Overtime Loss to the Leafs

After a roaring evening at the Xfinity Mobile Arena on Tuesday night’s 5-2 win, the Flyers came out slow and sloppy in a 2-1 overtime loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Things started slowly for both teams. Philadelphia wasn’t generating chances to start the first, something I had hoped to see following the momentum of the two prior 5-2 wins. After some painful turnovers from Philadelphia, Toronto had some should’ve been goals as Philadelphia’s defense came out slow, yet gave up any serious chances on some bad shots.

Early in the period, Cam York took a puck to the face and finished the shift before heading down the tunnel. He returned to play shortly after.

Travis Konecny earned his 14th goal of the year for the Flyers not even a minute into the second period, with Dvorak finding TK in the slot for the leading goal. Beyond this, there was little excitement in the second period. The Flyers killed off two penalties, one against Emil Andrae for holding and another against Konecny for slashing. Late in the period, the Flyers seemed to come together more for some respectable hockey, both by our skaters and with some solid saves from Dan Vladar. They were able to keep up with the faceoffs after only winning 3 of 15 in the first period. 

After an upper body injury late in the second period,Travis Konecny did not return for the third period after scoring the lone goal in the second period. The Flyers are now without Konecny, Brink, and Drysdale for upper body injuries. There have been no further comments on the status of any of them. 

The first half of the third period was uneventful for both teams. The Flyers did earn a 5-on-3 after Matthew Knies was sent to the box for slashing against Denver Barkey and Troy Stecher for tripping Owen Tippett. During the 52 seconds of a 2 man advantage, Zegras had a shot after a messy moment in front of the net, of which he was certain went in given his reaction below.

Alas, the goalie was blocking the cameras from all angles, and the goal was not awarded. Rather, Scott Laughton scored against his former team for a shorthanded goal to tie the game and send it to overtime. Both teams had sufficient chances early on, including a breakaway from Zegras. Yet neither were able to send one to the net until Easton Cowan’s wrist shot for the Leafs at 2:48.

With the overtime loss, the Flyers have now earned 5 points in their last 3 games and sit at #3 in the Metropolitan division. They continue their homestand, likely still absent of Brink, Drysdale, and potentially Konecny, on Saturday night at 7:00pm against the Tampa Bay Lighting. Tampa Bay comes in 8-2 in their last 10 games, compared to Philadelphia’s 5-3-2 record.