Leafs @ Flyers - Dec. 12th, 7:00pm - TSN4, Fan 590

[CarltonTheBear]

@
20-10-1, 41 points | 11-11-7, 29 points
Projected Lines

Hyman-Nylander-Brown Marleau-Kadri-Komarov JVR-Bozak-Marner Martin-Moore-Leivo Rielly-Hainsey Gardiner-Zaitsev Borgman-Polak Andersen

Giroux-Couturier-Simmonds Konecny-Patrick-Weise Raffl-Filppula-Voracek Weal-Laughton-Leier Provorov-MacDonald Hagg-Gostisbehere Sanheim-Gudas Elliott

Scratches

Connor Carrick Nikita Soshnikov Auston Matthews

Jori Lehtera Mark Alt

Game Notes

TOR
•Andersen (17-8-1, 2.67 GAA, .922 Sv%) will likely start for the Leafs
•Thanks to herman and Nik for filling in while I was away. I didn't get to keep too many tabs on the Leafs during my break. Surely they didn't do anything stupid like keep Nylander on the 4th line for 3 of the 4 games that I missed?
•Or even if Babs did do that, surely he would have made sure Willy still saw a healthy amount of ice-time and wasn't essentially benched for an entire 3rd period of a game, right?
•Or EVEN IF those things happened surely Nylander would have played tons in a game where he lined up as the 1C and was one of the few fresh forwards on the 2nd half of a back to back, RIGHT???
•Oh, and Polak, he's not still playing is he? Boy imagine him playing 7 straight games with Carrick in the press box haha
•All those things happened? Yeeeeaaah right. Next you're going to tell me that Curtis McElhinney pitched a shutout while I was away!

PHI
•Brian Elliott (9-6-6, 2.79 GAA, .912 Sv%) will likely start for the Flyers
•It looked like the Flyers season was going to be over very early this year. They lost 10 games in a row and talk was growing about players being traded and coaches fired. But they followed that up with a 3-0 road trip through Western Canada to keep their playoff hopes alive
•The Flyers are led offensively by Voracek and Giroux, both of whom are back to being PPG players. The two combined for just 119 points last season. This season they are on pace for a combined 194 points
•Sean Couturier is also stepping up offensively in his new role as the teams 1C with Giroux pushed to the wing. Couturier has 28 points in 29 games. His previous career high was 39 in 63 games
•After a good-but-not-amazing sophomore season, Shayne Gostisbehere is back among the defensive scoring leaders. He has 22 points in 26 games
•Travis "OMG WHY DIDN'T THE LEAFS PICK HIM" Konecny has just 9 points in 29 games this season. He finished last season with just 8 points in his last 30 games

Injuries

•Nathan Horton - Back - Out indefinitely •Joffrey Lupul - Actually Injured - Out indefinitely •Auston Matthews - Upper Body - Day to day

•Jori Lehtera - Illness - Questionable Tuesday •Michal Neuvirth - Leg - Injured Reserve •Brandon Manning - Hand - Injured Reserve •Colin McDonald - Lower Body - Injured Reserve

Stream Options

https://www.reddit.com/r/NHLstreams

[Nik]

ATOOOA BITSAT?

I don't get it.

[Kaberle15]

Lets win this one boys, with or without Matthews.

Go Leafs go!!!

[Andy]

Finally, a respectable GDT!

(_!_)

[CarltonTheBear]

ATOOOA BITSAT?

I don't get it.

*thinks for a second*

*looks at Nik's gdt again*

[CarltonTheBear]

#Leafs lines at morning skate:
Hyman-Marleau-Brown
Komarov-Kadri-Nylander
van Riemsdyk-Bozak-Marner
Martin-Moore-Leivo

Rielly-Hainsey
Gardiner-Zaitsev
Borgman-Polak

Andersen starts

— Kristen Shilton (@kristen_shilton) December 12, 2017

Marleau and Nylander swap places.

[herman]

Standard road game sans Matthews deployment

[Nik]

Matthews is apparently confirmed out with a case of none of your business.

[disco]

100% Auston is a serious 5-on-5 generator. Even nagging injury Auston, which he's been since before the first absence, is a contributor. At least the Leafs have the luxury of properly managing their asset. There's no way an Ekblad situation would ever happen, where Aaron was rushed back several times by a Florida club desperate to make the playoffs and suffered several concussions in a row. Kid will figure it out.

[Downtown]

How is it possible that a team that lost 10 straight still has playoff hopes? Stupid Flyers always seem to play well against us.

GO LEAFS GO!

[bustaheims]

How is it possible that a team that lost 10 straight still has playoff hopes? Stupid Flyers always seem to play well against us.

Playoff hopes may be being generous. They're 6 points out of the last wildcard, and the play in the toughest division in hockey. They're not out of it, but they're not really in it, either - not without a significant winning streak.

[CarltonTheBear]

Playoff hopes may be being generous. They're 6 points out of the last wildcard, and the play in the toughest division in hockey. They're not out of it, but they're not really in it, either - not without a significant winning streak.

It may have been a little generous yeah but a win tonight would put them 4 points back of the Rangers for the final WC spot with GP being equal. And they'd be 4 points behind Pittsburgh for 9th in the East with 2 games in hand. And they'd be on a 4-game winning streak which is pretty close to significant these days. I'm not picking them to make the playoffs from here but a strong finish to the month and they're right in the thick of things.

[CarltonTheBear]

Thanks Elliott!

[Al14]

Good response!  Marleau scores.  1-1 tie.

[Zanzibar Buck-Buck McFate]

I missed the PHI goal, what was Babcock complaining about?