Wrap: Maple Leafs Down Flyers, 6-2
The Philadelphia Flyers found themselves down quickly and went on to lose to the Toronto Maple Leafs, 6-2, at the Wells Fargo Center on Thursday night. Philly trailed 3-0 at the first intermission -- it would have been 4-0 if not for a successful replay challenge for a hand pass -- and never got closer than 3-1 despite improved play in the second period. Toronto pulled away in the final stanza.
Tyler Bertuzzi (1g, 1a), Auston Matthews (1g, 1a), William Nylander (1g, 1a) and defenseman Timothy Liljegren (1g, 1a) all had two-point games for Toronto. Matthew Knies and Pontus Holmberg tallied a goal apiece for the Maple Leafs. Ilya Samsonov (26 saves on 28 shots) earned the win in net.
Owen Tippett (power play goal) and Tyson Foerster (first career shorthanded goal, Flyers' 15th shorthanded tally of the season) scored the two goals for Philly, although the outcome was long since sealed before the latter goal. Morgan Frost and Travis Konecny assisted on the Tippett goal. Sean Couturier and Travis Sanheim assisted on Foerster shorthander.
The Flyers went 1-for-3 on the power play. They were 4-for-4 on the penalty kill with the aforementioned shortie by Foerster, but that scarcely mattered on a might where seven different Maple Leafs scored at even strength.
Samuel Ersson (nine saves on 12 shots) would have liked the second and especially the third Toronto goals back. At the start of the second period, Ersson was replaced by Felix Sandström (11 saves on 14 shots) for the remainder of the game. Samsonov turned back 26 of 28 Flyers shots.
For a more detailed period-by-period synopsis, analysis, stats and more, see the Postgame 5 on PhiladelphiaFlyers.com:
Click here.
Thursday's loss did not hurt the Flyers in the standings. On home ice, the Buffalo Sabres shut out the New York Islanders, 4-0. The Flyers remain four points plus a 26-21 regulation win tiebreaker advantage ahead of the Islanders. New York still has two games in hand.
The Flyers will not practice on Friday. They will fly to Boston in advance of playing the Bruins on Saturday night at TD Garden.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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