Leafs Fly Passed Philadelphia

 

Photo From CP24

After setting a new Franchise record in wins and points the other in the win over the Islanders the Leafs were back in action last night as they hosted the struggling Flyers. Both Auston Matthews and Jake Muzzin would remain out of the lineup for this game, but coach Sheldon Keefe said that both will travel with the team on their upcoming three game road trip. Jack Campbell would once again get the start in goal for Toronto as he would look for his 30^th win of the season and for the Flyers their netminder would be Martin Jones. For this one I am going to skip the first period because honestly nothing noteworthy happened so let us just jump ahead to period two.

 

After a sluggish first period for Toronto, they would start period two much better and just 90 seconds into the frame the Leafs would open the scoring. The puck would be chipped into the Flyers zone and Alex Kerfoot would chase the puck down behind the net where he would then send a perfect centering pass to Timothy Liljegren who was left all alone and his wrist shot would beat Jones over the glove for his fifth goal of the season and Toronto would lead 1-0. Toronto despite leading would find their opponents controlling things on the shot clock meaning Jack Campbell would be called upon many times to bail his team out. Thankfully for the Leafs Campbell tracked the puck well all night and was usually square to many shots he faced allowing him to make simple saves and slow the game down for a face off when needed. As I mentioned in my earlier article when ever a team’s struggles are mentioned a goal is usually scored shortly after. Well Gord Miller mentioned that the Flyers are ranked 32^nd in the league in goals for and sure enough a few minutes before the midway point of the second the visitors would get on the boar tying the game at ones. With a mad scramble in front of the Leafs net and with Toronto unable to relieve the pressure the Flyers would end up getting three attempts on goal and the shot would be chipped into the roof of the net by long time fan favorite for the Leafs James Van Riemsdyk would score his 21^st goal of the season. A few minutes later the Leafs would be on the powerplay, one that up to this point was not a threat at all we saw in the first Toronto had two powerplays where the team did not register a single shot. With Ivan Provorov serving a Holding minor the Leafs league leading powerplay would prove that the third times a charm as a powerplay goal would add to the Leaf lead. John Tavares would have the puck behind the Flyers net, he would send a pass out to Mitch Marner who would quickly send a cross ice pass to William Nylander whose quick wrist shot would find the back of the net for his 32^nd goal of the season setting a new career high, Tavares and Marner would collect assists on this goal and Marner is now just five points away from 100 in a season and John Tavares now has 75 points this season and is just six away from 900 points in a career. With time expiring in the second it looked as if Toronto head into the break with a 2-1 lead, but a trio of Leafs veterans would team up on the team’s third goal. Jason Spezza would send a pass to Wayne Simmonds who entered the zone he would then turn his back to the goal and drop the puck back to Jason. Next would see Mark Giordano join Spezza for a give and go play, Spezza would finish what he started as his wrist shot would beat Jones for his 11^th goal of the season his first goal in twenty-one games and he now needs eight points to reach the 1000-point milestone. We got to see one of the nicest plays of the season by Toronto leading to that third goal and the team would have a comfortable lead as they prepared for the third period.

The final twenty minutes of regulation we would see the Leafs just try and run the clock down because although they are still trying to lock down home ice in the playoffs, they also want to finish these remaining games healthy. Toronto’s search for more goals would continue as midway through the period the Leaf lead would grow to 4-1. Ilya Mikheyev would have possession and work the puck back to Lyubushkin at the top of the slot, the Russian Bear would see David Kampf skating into the shot lane so Lyubushkin would send a shot on goal that Kampf would deflect passed Martin Jones for his 11^th goal of the season and Toronto would put this game out of reach as their lead would grow to 4-1. Late in this period the Flyers would pull to within two goals as Ronnie Attard would score his second goal of his young career. With the Flyers trailing this game 4-2 they would call Martin Jones to the bench and try to inch closer with an extra attacker, but Ilya Mikheyev would dash all hopes of a Flyers miracle comeback as Mikheyev would score his 18^th goal of the year on the empty net and Toronto would win this game 5-2. As we know at this point of the season, we  always do some scoreboard watching and last night the Detroit Red Wings did the Leafs a favor by picking up a regulation win against the Tampa Bay Lightning giving the Leafs an eight point advantage on Tampa in the standings however the Bruins picked up a win against the Blues so Boston now trails the Lightning by a single point and I am sure Leaf fans are breaking out into cold sweats at the simple thought of playing the Bruins. Toronto now heads out onto the road for a return too the state of Florida and on Thursday they will visit the Lightning and apparently if the Leafs win in regulation and the Penguins beat Boston in regulation then the Leafs will lock up home ice for the post season.

That is all for this one thanks as always for reading.