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Flyers Suffer Devastating 7-6 Loss in Toronto

March 16, 2019, 10:44 AM ET [48 Comments]
Bill Meltzer
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Heading into Toronto on Friday on the heels of a convincing home regulation loss to Washington the previous night, the Philadelphia Flyers faced a virtual must-win situation against the Maple Leafs. They failed in agonizing fashion, building a 5-2 lead in the second period but failing to protect it in what turned into a devastating 7-6 regulation loss.

For all practical purposes, the Maple Leafs burst the Flyers' playoff bubble. Coupled with the Columbus Blue Jackets' 3-0 shutout of Carolina on Friday, the Flyers have fallen a cavernous eight points (seven standings points and a ROW tiebreaker disadvantage) below the Eastern Conference playoff cutoff line with only 11 games remaining.

The Flyers worked hard but not very smart, getting outshot by a 51-29 margin, and losing any semblance of two-way structure as the Leafs played to their own strengths. Goaltender Brian Elliott started out great, including a seven-save penalty kill in an 18-save first period (helped out by a would-be Leafs goal being wiped out because the net was off its moorings). Once the Leafs solved him, however, Elliott was as ineffective as the rest of the team. He finished with 44 saves on 51 shots. Toronto counterpart Frederik Andersen, pulled in back-to-back games heading into Friday's tilt, stopped 23 of 29 shots.

James van Riemsdyk scored a hat trick against his former team (goals 22, 23 and 24 on the season) in a losing cause. Jakub Voracek (19th) returned from a two-game NHL suspension to open the scoring on a scorcher right off a faceoff win by Nolan Patrick. Radko Gudas (3rd) and Shayne Gostisbehere (7th) opened a 5-2 lead with 6:33 left in the second period but the Flyers gave up back-to-back goals by Jake Muzzin and saw the lead shrink to 5-4 before the second intermission.

After Muzzin's 7th and 8th goals put the game back in striking distance, Toronto dominated the third period with a 16-9 shot blitz. Martin Marincin scored (1st) through traffic to tie the game just 2:55 into the frame. With five minutes left in regulation, Auston Matthews put the Leafs ahead to stay, and 2:21 later, scored again (33rd and 34th) to put a stranglehold on the game. JVR completed the hat trick with 1:14 left to play, but it was too late at that point. Patrick Marleau (power play, 15th) and Zach Hyman (15th) also scored for Toronto.

The Flyers went 0-for-2 on the power play, including one late in the second period and early into the third period that set a bad tone for the rest of the game. Philly was 3-for-4 on the penalty kill.

The Flyers are in Pittsburgh on Sunday to play the Penguins in the final game of the season series between the teams.
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