WRAP: FLYERS EARN COMEBACK 4-2 WIN AGAINST LEAFS

Putting forth one of their more complete 60-minute efforts of the season, the Philadelphia Flyers stuck with the program to score three unanswered third period goals and defeat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 4-2, at the Wells Fargo Center on Tuesday night. Despite outplaying Toronto for most of the opening 40 minutes, the Flyers trailed 2-1 entering the third period.

With the win, the Flyers moved back over "hockey .500" on the season, improving to 12-11-7. They are back within four points of the cutoff for the lower wildcard seed in the Eastern Conference, despite the recent 0-5-5 stretch. The Flyers have won four straight games in regulation for the first time since February 1-8, 2014. During that stretch, Philly beat Los Angeles and San Jose on the road before topping Colorado and Calgary at home.

"We came out pretty well-prepared after four days off. Well-rested. As the game went on, I thought we got better and better, we got our legs going. The shots showed it you know it was a matter of time before we started putting the puck in," Sean Couturier said.

Suffering their first defeat this season in a game led after two periods, Toronto fell to 20-11-1 overall for the season. The Maple Leafs were missing budding young superstar Auston Matthews (upper body, suspected head injury) from the lineup for the second straight game and sixth time overall this season. Toronto came into the game 5-0-0 in games without Matthews.

A pair of scoring hookups between Couturier and Claude Giroux highlighted the game for Philadelphia. The first opened the scored. The latter was the game winner.

On the first goal, Couturier cleanly won an offensive zone faceoff back to Giroux and the Flyers captain fired and scored.

“We switch around and try different things offensively. Having him on the right side there, G is ready for a one-timer if I win it. Lucky enough, the puck ended up right on his tape," Couturier said.

The latter, which put the Flyers ahead to stay with 2:55 left in regulation, started with a Couturier defensive faceoff win after a Philadelphia icing. On the rush, Giroux threaded a pass to open ice and found Couturier rumbling in stride in the left circle. In turn, Couturier wired a shot that found the top corner to the long side.

In joking reference to Couturier's lack of foot speed (for which he gets frequent teasing from teammates), a grinning Giroux said, "I saw Coots had a foot race. Usually he doesn’t beat the other guy.... Good shot, too."

"The puck was rolling a little bit, and I just shot as hard as I could," Couturier said. "I'm not trying to pick corners or anything like that. I'm trying to just shoot through the goalie and shooting more with more of a mentality to shoot. Eventually, they'll go in."

Giroux (13th goal of the season) Travis Konecny (4th), Couturier (15th goal) and Scott Laughton (empty net, 5th) got the goals for Philadelphia. Couturier (15th assist), Robert Hägg (4th), Ivan Provorov (11th), Giroux (21st), Wayne Simmonds (9th assist) and Michael Raffl (3rd) collected assists.

Brian Elliott gave up a bad goal on the first Toronto tally but settled down. With the Flyers trailing 2-1 and then tied at 2-2, he came up with three vital saves among the 20 overall saves he made in earning the win.

A newly created line with Konecny skating with Laughton and Leier provided a lot of energy and pressure, especially by the 20-year-old Konecny. They got rewarded on this night; Konecny's 100th game in the NHL.

"We were just getting pucks in behind them. It was definitely part of our game plan to out skate their D and get in there. As a unit of three we know we can cheat a little bit and get in on the fore check because we know we can get back and defend in the right spots. So yeah we were on top of them," Konecny said.

Patrick Marleau (11th goal of the season) and ex-Flyer James van Riemsdyk (power play, 15th) scored for Toronto. Zach Hyman (10th assist), Ron Hainsey (12th), Morgan Rielly (power play assist, 17th), Mitch Marner (power play assist, 18th) received assists.

Frederik Andersen, who struggled with glove side shots the first time the Flyers played the Leafs this season, was much sharper this time around. He stopped 35 of 38 shots overall.

The Flyers went 0-for-1 on the power play and 0-for-1 on the penalty kill. However, the team has only taken a total of seven minors over the course of their four-game winning streak, which started with a sweep of road games in Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver.

"I think we’ve had the puck a little bit more and that’s probably the first place to look. We had a stretch there where stick penalties were getting us and those kind of penalties happen when you’re chasing a game, when you're defending a little bit too much and that was the case during that stretch," Flyers head coach Dave Hakstol said.

"So it’s not necessarily the discipline side of it that’s the first place that I would go. I'd say we’ve had the puck a little bit more, we haven’t had to defend as much in our own zone, and usually that leads to a lesser number of penalties against."

1ST PERIOD

Travis Sanheim had an early shot attempt blocked. He then pinched down to the circle. Neither team had shot on goal through the first three minutes. The Leafs narrowly missed connections on an odd-man rush several shifts later. Shots were 2-2 through the first 8:46.

Kadri got open to take a pass inside the Flyers' blueline and go in one-on-one with Elliott. He shot over the net.

Off a right circle offensive zone draw, Couturier won the faceoff cleanly back to Giroux, who was lined up atop the circle. Giroux then blasted a shot past Andersen for a 1-0 lead at 9:21.

The Flyers' lead didn't last long: a mere 28 seconds. On a Toronto rush, Marleau fired a seemingly routine shot from the left dot that hit Elliott in the right shoulder and then leaked into the short side. The assists went Hyman and Hainsey at 9:48.

Tyler Bozak had a scoring chance off a rush on the shift after the goal. He shot wide.

The Flyers got the game's first power play at 10:40 as Roman Polak was called for tripping Konecny at the Toronto blueline. The first unit generated moderate pressure and a Couturier one timer just above the hash marks. The second unit never got set up.

First period shots were 7-6 in the Flyers' favor. The Flyers won 11 of 17 first period faceoffs, with Giroux going 4-for-4 and Couturier going 3-for-3. Robert Hägg was credited with three of the seven Philadelphia hits.

2ND PERIOD

The Flyers attacked right off the hop and Valtteri Filppula had a great scoring chance in close in the opening half minute.

Nolan Patrick and Roman Polak shoved and chirped after a whistle at 2:35. Nothing further ensued. On the next shift, Scott Laughton attacked with speed for a shot from the left circle at 3:01.

Shots were 8-0 Flyers through 5:49, but the score remained 1-1. An Andreas Borgman shot from above the right circle at at 6:22 was Toronto's first of the period.

Elliott came up with a Dominic Moore deflection of point shot and held on for a stoppage and TV timeout at 9:58. It was Toronto's third shot of the period and ninth of the game.

On the forecheck, Giroux forced a turnover directly in front of the Toronto net. Couturier nearly banged the puck home on the backhand. Andersen fought it off. The Maple Leafs gained the Flyers' zone with speed on their next shift and applied their best pressure of the period. The net came off its moorings and the faceoff went to the neutral zone.

Nikita Zaitsev got back Gudas as the Flyers started to change defense pairs and went in on Elliott. The Flyers' goalie had to make his best save of the game to keep the score tied. Jordan Weal had a chance in the Toronto end as play swung back the other way.

Toronto went to its first power play at 16:11 as Voracek was called for an offensive zone trip on Kadri. Voracek complained of embellishment by Kadri but, of course, to no avail. Toronto cashed in to take a 2-1 lead at 16:50 The puck was rotated around the perimeter and then point-to-point. The Rielly shot was deflected home in the mid-slot by van Riemsdyk. Marner was credited with the secondary assist.

Second period shots were 14-7 in the Flyers' favor (21-13 Flyers overall).

3RD PERIOD

The Flyers iced the puck at the 21-second mark. Filppula won the next draw, though, and Philly broke out of the zone. Giroux had a point blank chance on the next shift but the puck may have hopped just a bit before it rolled off the toe of his stick to Andersen's pad.

Filppula took a pass from Voracek and found room between the D. Moving right, he backhanded a shot from the right circle. Andersen handled.

Shots were 6-2 Flyers through the first four minutes. Finally, the hard work paid off after the Flyers regained the zone and kept on attacking the net. Circling out up high, Konecny wristed a shot at the net. The puck deflected off Hyman and another Leaf to tie the game at 2-2 at the 5:02 mark on Philly's ninth shot. Hägg got the primary assist, Provorov the second.

The goal was initially credited to Leier, but later changed to Konecny.

"Well, we were so tied up in the heat of the battle, you know ,I felt something hit me and the puck kind of bounced in the air and I celebrated whether it was mine or not I was so happy we scored to tie it up..... [It hit] somewhere in my upper body, around my armpit area," Leier said after the game.

Replays, however, showed the puck never touched Leier. Perhaps it was a Toronto stick that Leier felt brush him.

Connor Brown had a bang-bang chance from point blank range in the slot. Elliott made an excellent reaction save. Travis Konecny responded with a strong forechecking shift and then starting a rush with speed.

Voracek overhandled a puck on a rush in the neutral zone and had it taken away. Elliott made a save on Matt Martin to keep the game 2-2.

The Leafs generated strong forechecking pressure on back-to-back shifts. The Flyers were hemmed in but play stayed on the perimeter. Toronto iced the puck with 4:57 left. On the next shift, Ivan Provorov pinched in for a scoring chance. The Flyers were now the ones pressuring again. After a deflected puck out of play, the Flyers had a left circle faceoff in the offensive zone following a TV timeout at 16:25.

Philly took an icing with 3:15 left, won the defensive draw, and iced it again with 3:05 left. Couturier again won the draw and the Flyers broke the other way. Taking a Giroux pass from atop the left circle, Couturier wired a shot home high to the long side at 17:05. Simmonds got the secondary assist as the Flyers took a 3-2 lead.

On the next shift after the goal, Couturier fed Simmonds off the rush at the doorstep. Andersen scrambled for the save.

With 1:42 left and an offensive zone draw, the Leafs pulled Andersen for an extra attacker. Bidding for empty netters in three straight games, Simmonds was unable to finish it. Provorov had a key clear of the defensive zone. Finally, off a Leafs turnover in the neutral zone, Laughton iced the game with an empty netter at 19:44. Raffl earned the lone assist.

Raffl, who previously said that as a child growing up in Austria, he dreamed of playing just one game in the NHL much less getting a point, earned his 100th career point in his 299th NHL game.

Third period shots were 18-9 in the Flyers' favor; 39-22 overall to Philly's advantage. Final faceoff stats were 31-24 in the Flyers' favor led by a 7-for-9 night for Couturier and 7-for-10 for Giroux. Hägg and Toronto's Martin tied with a game-high five credited hits (22-18 overall in the Flyers' favor).

***************

PHANTOMS UPDATE: PHANTOMS EARN 6-3 WIN IN CHARLOTTE

The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (16-8-3) skated to a 6-3 road win against the Charlotte Checkers (16-9-1) on Tuesday night to snap a four-game winning streak for the Checkers. The two teams will rematch in Charlotte again on Wednesday.

Based on points (35 in 27 games), the Phantoms are now in first place in the AHL's Atlantic Division. Based on winning percentage, however, Lehigh Valley is in third. The Providence Bruins (34 points in 24 games) and the Wilkes Barre/Scranton Penguins (34 points in 23 games) are ahead of the Phantoms via the AHL's method of tracking standings.

Playing in relief of starting goalie Dustin Tokarski (pulled 8:46 into the first period after Charlotte scored three on seven shots), John Muse stopped all 25 shots he faced in 51:14 to earn the win in goal for the Phantoms. Carolina Hurricanes prospect Alex Nedeljkovic (32 saves on 37 shots) absorbed the loss in goal for Charlotte.

Five-on-five and empty net goals by Nicolas Aube-Kubel (7th and 8th of the season) led the Phantoms' offensively. Tallying for the third time in the last four games, Oskar Lindblom (7th) netted the game winner. Danick Martel (15th) broke a month-long goal drought, while Phil Varone (9th) and Greg Carey (power play, 14th) also scored. Corban Knight and T.J. Brennan chipped in a pair of assists.

Julien Gauthier (6th), Trevor Carrick (power play, 2nd) and Andrew Poturalski (power play, 8th) scored for Charlotte before Tokarski was replaced in goal by Muse.

Samuel Morin returned to the lineup for the Phantoms for the first time since Nov. 29. Philippe Myers (who was in Philadelphia at the Flyers vs. Maple Leafs game and said that he's skated each of the last two days) remained out of the lineup. Mike Vecchione and Colin McDonald are out for an indefinite period of time after getting injured in the Phantoms' last game. Rookie defenseman Mark Friedman was a healthy scratch on Tuesday.

The Phantoms lost center Mikhail Vorobyev in the second period of Tuesday's tilt. He did not return.

It did not take Lehigh Valley long to strike for the first two goals of the game. Just 21 seconds after the opening faceoff, Aube-Kubel collected his own good-luck carom off the end boards and banked the puck in off Nedeljkovic. Celebrating his 23rd birthday, Martel sniped a shot over Nedljkovic's glove for a 2-0 edge.

Charlotte then garnered the game's next three goals in fairly quick order.

At 5:08, Gauthier scored on a breakaway backhander after blocking a shot. On the power play, Carrick threaded a shot through traffic at 7:47. At 8:46, Charlotte collected another man advantage tally to take a 3-2 lead on Poturalski's deflection of a Carrick wrister from the point. Former Charlotte goalie Muse came in to replace Tokarski.

Charlotte nearly extended the advantage to two goals on a shorthanded scoring chance for Warren Foegele, which Muse denied with his right pad. Countering back the other way, Chris Conner fed Varone for a tap-in power play goal to the game at 3-3 at the 9:39 mark of the second period.

The Phantoms went ahead to stay at 11:43. Varone carried the mail and beat three Checkers defenders, then dished to Lindblom in the right circle. The Swedish rookie released a quick one-timer from the bottom of the circle and found the net.

The score remained 4-3 in Lehigh Valley's favor until the Phantoms established some breathing room in the third period. On the power play, Carey took a feed from Brennan and fired a howitzer home to open a 5-3 edge. Aube-Kubel's empty netter, assisted by Morin, sealed the final three-goal margin of victory with 3:47 remaining on the clock.

Join the Discussion: » 256 Comments » Post New Comment

» Quick Hits: Phantoms, Flyers Daily, Voracek

» Phantoms Take Game 1 vs. WBS, Farabee to Worlds

» Flyers Re-Sign Fedotov to Two-Year Contract

» Musings and Quick Hits: Flyers Power Play, Phantoms vs WBS Preview

» Quick Hits: Flyers Daily, Phantoms, TIFH