Flyers Embarrassed By Leafs, Lose 7-2

The Philadelphia Flyers were embarrassed by the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday. The Leafs routed the Flyers, beating them 7-2.

It was an all-around terrible game–no offensive production, a poor defensive effort, and an awful night for the goalie.

The only Flyers’ goals came from Ryan Poehling and Sean Couturier.

With the loss, the Flyers’ record dipped to 28-36-9 for the season.

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Poehling Strikes First, Leafs Answer, Twice

Ryan Poehling’s recent play has been a bright spot for the Flyers lately, especially on their road trip.

Poehling (8) got the scoring started in the first period, capitalizing on a great forecheck and a slick feed from Jakob Pelletier (10). That would be Poehling’s third goal of the road trip, and his fourth goal in seven games.

That, unfortunately, would be all the action there was for the Flyers.

John Tavares (31) would even the game up at one with less than 10 minutes to play in the first period. The Flyers won the draw and sent the puck back behind their net. Cam York lost the puck battle, and it eventually found the stick of William Nylander (36), who found Tavares in the slot. York would not take a shift for the remainder of the first period (9:23), and his night would eventually be done.

Nylander (39) would get a goal of his own later in the first, cashing in on a Flyers’ too-many-men penalty, leading to the Maple Leafs’ man-advantage.

The Flyers did not play a particularly bad period; they just could not match the Leafs’ overall intensity.

Maple Leafs’ Four-Goal Second Period

The Toronto Maple Leafs scored four straight goals in the second period.

It began with Bobby McMann (20) getting the scoring started less than two minutes into frame number two. That was just the beginning.

Just over six minutes later, Tavares (32) scored his second goal of the game. Nylander (40) answered Tavares’ second score with his own second goal of the night just over four minutes after Tavares did.

David Kampf (5) would light the lamp for Toronto for the fourth time in just over 15 minutes of play as he extended the Maple Leafs’ lead to five.

The Flyers would finally answer Toronto’s barrage of goals as Sean Couturier (12) would redirect a Jamie Drysdale (13) shot to score Philly’s only goal of the second period. Matvei Michkov (31) earned the secondary assist on the score, bringing his point total to 51 for the season.

The Flyers did not look completely lost in the first period; they looked like a team that had given up entirely in the second. It was a completely different effort from a completely different team.

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Just End the Game

Unfortunately for Flyers fans, games do not end after two periods, and a third period had to be played in order to end the game.

That same Flyers team that looked like they had given up in the second period came out of the locker room in the third. The Flyers just looked defeated in the third period–almost as if they just skated to end the game.

The Flyers have been playing their best hockey in the third period lately. I guess you can say that trend continued, as they only allowed one goal in the third period.

First, it looked like Morgan Rielly had scored on a virtually empty net. Mitch Marner had a slick through-the-legs shot that ended up drawing Ersson away from the pipes and collided with the Maple Leafs’ forward. Rielly scored on the empty net with Ersson behind the goal, but it was waived off as a replay showed Marner making contact with Ersson before being pushed into him.

Therefore, the game remained 6-2.

However, Max Domi (7) eventually made it 7-2, which was the final score of the game.

What’s Next for the Flyers

The Flyers will return home to Philadelphia as they open a mini three-game homestand on Thursday, starting with the Canadiens.

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