Facing a crucial road game, Rick Tocchet's Philadelphia Flyers (27-21-11) are in Ontario on Monday to take on old friend Craig Berube's Toronto Maple Leafs (27-24-9). With four days to go until the NHL trade deadline, the Flyers are coming off back-to-back victories. They need to build a significant winning streak to make up the gap in the Eastern Conference playoff chase.
Game time at Scotiabank Arena is 7:30 p.m. EST. The game will be televised on NBCSP.
This is the third and final meeting of the season between the Flyers and Maple Leafs. The Flyers are 0-1-1 in the two games against Toronto to date.
Philly enters this game coming off a rousing 3-1 win over the Boston Bruins at Xfinity Mobile Arena on Saturday afternoon. Goaltender Dan Vladar played brilliantly in carrying a shutout bid for 53 minutes. Meanwhile, after the game entered the third period in a scoreless deadlock, goals by Travis Konecny (23rd), Jamie Drysdale (6th) and Sean Couturier (ENG, 6th) supplied the offensive output. Konecny (1g, 1a), Drysdale (1g, 1a) and Christian Dvorak (2a) all finished with two-point games.
The Maple Leafs are 0-3-0 since the end of the Olympic break. On Saturday, the Leafs suffered a 5-2 home loss against the Ottawa Senators. Dylan Cousins had two goals and an assist for Ottawa. In a losing cause, Morgan Rielly (8th) and William Nylander (19th) scored goals for Toronto, for ex-Flyer Scott Laughton chipped in an assist. Starter Joseph Woll was pulled after allowing five goals on 28 shots. Former Flyers goalie Anthony Stolarz came on in relief during the latter part of the second period and stopped all 12 shots he faced.
Entering Monday's game, the Flyers are seven points (six plus a tiebreaker disadvantage) out of a wildcard spot in the Eastern Conference. They are 11 points (10 plus a tiebreaker disadvantage) behind the New York Islanders for third place in the Metropolitan Division but hold two games in hand.
Here are the RAV4 Things to track for Monday's game in Toronto.
1. Avoid self-inflicted wounds.
Both losses to Toronto this season have been marked by key plays in which the Flyers were their own worst enemy. Philly scored first in both games and still ended up on the losing side. Most notably, in their January meeting in Philly, the Flyers had a 1-0 lead and 5-on-3 power play in the latter part of the third period. Unfortunately, the Flyers failed to cash in on the two-man advantage. During the remaining 5-on-4 time, the Flyers coughed up a shorthanded goal to Laughton. The Leafs went on to win in overtime.
In this game in Toronto, the Leafs enter as the more vulnerable team. The Flyers need to be proactive and aggressive but also opportunistic. Despite their highly disappointing season, the Maple Leafs still have quite few dangerous players on their roster.
2. Konecny
There have been several times in the last two months in which two-time Bobby Clarke Trophy winner Travis Konecny has put the team on his back offensively and supplied either all of the offense on much of it. His goal on Saturday against Boston was another such occasion. The Flyers remain a team with a rather sporadic attack. They rely heavily on finding someone to finally help get things rolling offensively. Often, TK has to be that player for this team.
Konecny (57 points, +10) leads the Flyers in points and trails only Noah Cates (+16) in traditional plus-minus rating among Flyers' forwards. It's not that Konecny is immune from mistakes. It's that he has a knack for stepping up in crucial moments and then carrying momentum from there that leads to positive things for the team.
3; Special teams
Dating back from before the Olympic break, the Flyers have built a streak of 16 straight successful penalty kills. The PK has climbed back up to 79.9 percent for the season (ranked 13th) to move up into the top half of the league.
The Toronto power play ranks 21st in the NHL at 19.3 percent success. However, since New Year's Day, it ranks 9th at a 27.5 percent clip.
The Flyers' power play ranks 28th this season at 15.9 percent success. The Maple Leafs have the NHL's 4th highest-ranked penalty kill (83.4 percent). Since the Olympic break, the Philly power play is 1-for-9. The Leafs' PK is 4-for-5 with the power play going 2-for-7.
4. Faceoff circle
Toronto is the NHL's No. 1 faceoff team this season, winning 55.9 of their draws. Bobby McNann (60 percent), Auston Matthews (59.3 percent), John Tavares (58.3 percent) and Laughton (56.4 percent) have all excelled.
The Flyers rank 22nd at 48.9 percent on faceoffs. Christian Dvorak and Sean Couturier share the team lead at 53.4 percent. Cates has improved but still comes in at 44.5 percent. Part of the reason why Trevor Zegras has lined up much more at wing than in the middle is his ongoing faceoff struggles (33.7 percent).
Winning faceoffs are not all about the centers or the quickness of their hands and clean wins. It's also about leverage, strength. footwork and the assistance of linemates if there's a 50/50 battle from the initial drop. The Flyers need to at least hold their own against the Toronto crew, and especially not lose too many defensive zone draws cleanly.
