POSTGAME 5: Flyers Lose by More than a Foot, 3-0

On Military Appreciation Night at the Wells Fargo Center, the Philadelphia Flyers were shut out by the Toronto Maple Leafs, 3-0, on Wednesday evening.

A fast-paced but somewhat sloppily played first period on both sides ended with the game still scoreless. William Nylander (6th) notched the lone goal of the second period on an initially disallowed goal off his skate. The call was reversed on replay. In the third period, Nylander (power play goal, 7th) added to the Toronto lead. Ondrej Kase (2nd) made it a three-goal margin.
Carter Hart deserved a better fate. He had no little chance on any of the three Toronto goals and was sharp in making 29 saves. This was not a "goalie" loss, although it's No. 79 that got tagged with the "L" on his record.
Jack Campbell started out looking shaky but settled in and recorded a 35-save shutout. He benefitted also from a general lack of high-danger looks for Philadelphia. Toronto blocked 16 shot attempts and had closed down the lanes effectively.
Toronto star John Tavares and Flyers top pair defensemen each took the morning skate for their respective signs and both came in officially as game-day decisions in terms of their availability. Neither player dressed for the game.
TURNING POINT
While the goal off Nylander's skate was the direct turning point, breaking a scoreless tie, special teams were vital to the outcome. Philly got no momentum, let along a goal, from a frustrating 0-for-4 on the power play. Toronto went 1-for-3 on their power play, scoring a backbreaker in the third period and then tallying a 5-on-5 goal a few seconds after a power play expired.
MELTZER'S TAKE
1)The scoreless first period was evenly played overall. The pace was good but both teams were guilty of some sloppy execution. Shots were 12-11 in Toronto's favor and the Leafs had an overall 7-4 scoring chance edge but there were only a combined three high-danger chances (two for the Leafs) at five-on-five.
The biggest difference in the first period: Hart looked quite sharp while Campbell turned routine shots in adventures with multiple rebounds left out on the slot. The Leafs only had one power play to two (both created by Claude Giroux) for the Flyers but Philly could not get set up whatsoever, while Toronto looked dangerous. Hart's best save of the first period was a tough stop on Willam Nylander during the Toronto power play. Rasmus Ristolainen played a strong defensive first period for Philly, highlighted by two hits on the same shifts with the latter knocking a Leaf off the puck and the first one seeing Ristolainen's man taken out cleanly into the boards on an attempted rush. Justin Braun erased four Toronto shot attempts with good blocks.
2) Right from the outset, Alain Vigneault tried to go strength-on-strength, matching Sean Couturier's line against the Auston Matthews line.The Couturier line spent more time defending in their own zone than they did attacking. However, both the Scott Laughton and Derick Brassard lines created some offensive zone time in their matchups. The puck took some hops over sticks for both teams in the first period but the breaks evened out.
3) The second period was another evenly played frame for the most part. The difference came at 11:11 on a puck that deflected into the net off Nylander's skate. The call on the ice was no-goal due to the puck being kicked in but the NHL Situation Room in Toronto determined on replay that the puck went off Nylander's skate but was not sent in by a distinct kicking motion. Tough break for Hart and the Flyers. The assists went to Jake Muzzin and Matthews. Second period shots were 12-7 in the Flyers favor. Philly had an overall territorial edge but very little in the way of dangerous chances. The looks from the slot just weren't there.
4) The Flyers' third power play of the game saw Keith Yandle restored to the top unit. However, the results were the same as the first two: Philly never really got set up.
5) Phily was in dire need of a successful PK when Ivan Provorov was called for slashing at 4:25. It didn't happen. The Flyers gave up too much cross-seam space and lacked strong-side pressure. The result was that Richie found an open Nylander, who wired home the puck to open a 2-0 lead for the Leafs at 5:09. Matthews picked up his second assist of the game on the play.
Midway through the third period, the Flyers had a must-capitalize power play after Ondrej Kase tripped up Laughton. It started out will with a clean faceoff win but fizzled out into another frustrating two minutes. At 11:26, Giroux took an inadvertent but ill-timed offensive zone high-sticking penalty when his stick caught Mitch Marner. Shortly after the penalty expired, Braun was beaten and Alexander Kerfoot teed up a goal for Kase from the mid-slot at 13:33.
Late in the game, Nylander had a breakaway with a hat trick on the line. Hart made a clean glove save.