Wrap: Toronto Third-Period Blitz Beats Flyers, 6-3
The Philadelphia Flyers lost to the Toronto Maple Leafs, 6-3, at the Wells Fargo Center on Saturday evening. The game was 0-0 after the first period and 2-2 after the second. Toronto proceeded to pull away with a four-goal onslaught in the third period.
The Flyers were the better team in the first period. The second period was relatively even, with perhaps a slight edge to Toronto. The third period actually started out with pretty tight checking for a few minutes and then turned into exactly the type of game the Flyers couldn't afford -- one where they made low-percentage plays, turned over a lot of pucks and let Toronto get cranking in transition.
After a scoreless first period, Kevin Hayes (8th goal of the season) converted an Ivan Provorov pass for a 1-0 lead at 3:56 of the second period. The Leafs then struck back for a pair of closely spaced odd-looking goals on a flubbed Wayne Simmonds breakaway (5th) and a Timothy Liljegren (3rd) carom off the end boards that went off goalie Carter Hart and into the net. The Flyers struck back at 14:33 for a Provorov goal (6th) set up by Hayes.
In the third period, Auston Matthews (51st), Pierre Engvall (shorthanded, 12th), Morgan Rielly (9th) and John Tavares (24th) scored for the Leafs. Provorov got a goal (7th) that briefly cut the gap to 4-3 before the subsequent barrage.
Hart ended up having a rough night in goal. He stopped 22 of 26 shots and would have like a couple of the Toronto goals back. Jack Campbell got the win with 29 saves on 32 shots.
The Flyers went 0-for-2 on the power play and coughed up a shorthanded goal. The Maple Leafs went 0-for-1.
Flyers defenseman Keith Yandle was scratched for this game. His NHL record ironman streak of 989 consecutive regular season games played came to an end. Paired with Nick Seeler, defenseman Ronnie Attard made his NHL debut (15:53 TOI, minus-four, one shot on goal, three shot attempts blocked, two hits, one block). Seeler left the game early in the third period with an apparent injury.
For more on Saturday's game, see the Postgame 5 on PhiladelphiaFlyers.com
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Phantoms Rally To Beat Utica
Outshot by a 17-4 margin in the first period and trailing 2-0 on a pair of power play goals by early in the second period, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms rallied for three unanswered goals -- one in the second and two in the third -- to defeat the Utica Comets. 3-2, at the PPL Center on Saturday evening.
Garrett Wilson cut the gap to 2-1 with a power play goal at 16:25 of the second period. In the third, converted defenseman Ryan MacKinnon scored for the second straight game to knot the score at 2-2. Just 57 seconds later, Wilson scored again to put the Phantoms ahead to stay.
For the second straight game, Felix Sandström was outstanding in net for the Phantoms. He turned aside 37 of 39 shots to backstop the Phantoms to victory.
The Phantoms (24-27-11) remain nine points behind the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in the battle for the final playoff spot out of the Atlantic Division but Lehigh Valley holds three games in hand. The Phantoms will have to dig deep on Sunday as they are in action for the third straight day; a 3:00 p.m. road tilt against the Bridgeport Islanders (27-26-4), who are directly ahead of the Phantoms in the standings. It's another must-win game,
Bridgeport did not play on Friday night but they, too, have significant travel ahead of Sunday's game. The Islanders were on the road on Saturday, losing in a 9-2 rout at the hands of Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
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Big Night for Foerster
Flyers 2020 first-round pick Tyson Foerster, fully healed from early season shoulder surgery while with the Phantoms and now back in the Ontario Hockey League, racked up a hat trick and was on the ice for every one of his team's goals in a 5-4 Barrie Colts overtime win against the London Knights on Saturday. He has four goals over the past two games. The Colts clinched a playoff spot with Saturday's victory.
Danny Briere, the Flyers' special assistant to general manager Chuck Fletcher, was on hand to watch the game.
Foerster hatty! 🧢🧢🧢@NHLFlyers prospect Tyson Foerster (@tfoerster8) completes the hat-trick, scoring his 2nd, 3rd and 4th goals in five games for the @OHLBarrieColts 🎥 pic.twitter.com/fixNOCEXr4
— OntarioHockeyLeague (@OHLHockey) April 3, 2022