The Flyers entered this game in a bit of a slump, after losing 2 straight, but the Maple Leafs came into the Wells Fargo Center tonight in an even worse slump, 6 straight losses that dropped them from 3rd place to 10th in the conference. The Leafs needed this one bad and it's obvious the stress of their slide was getting to them. They were picking fights all night, but the Flyers can play that game as well as anyone and really punished the Leafs on the power play on the way to a 4-2 victory.
Vinny Lecavalier, possibly pissed about being demoted to the fourth line, took his frustrations out on Toronto goalie Jonathan Bernier. Vinny opened the scoring on the power play in the first for the period's only goal. With Vinny on the fourth line now Michael Raffl has been promoted to the third line and Tye McGinn heads up to the second line. Genius move? Possibly, let's see if Vinny get replicate on Sunday & McGinn can finally put up some stats during his current stint in the NHL.
Former Flyer, James van Riemsdyk, scored the quickest goal against the Flyers to start a period in team history only 4 seconds into period 2. After Toronto won the opening face-off the Leafs took it quickly down the ice where only one defenseman was waiting, since the Flyers had a few seconds left on the penalty kill. Timonen was the only Flyer in the defensive zone as Coburn was playing up on the wing during the face-off.
Scott Hartnell would answer during the second period to take the lead back. After a quick face-off win by G, Timonen whipped one at the net that Hartnell was able to redirect. The goal was called off initially by the linesman because of a possible high stick, but that was quickly corrected. The stick was well below the crossbar's height. That goal made Hartnell the fifth Flyer this season to hit the 20 goal mark.
The points keep piling up for Giroux. He added another goal to his total in the third period. Giroux found himself with a lot of space to work with after entering the zone and instead of setting up an offense decided to fire one at the net. His plant worked well, as he ripped an absolute laser over the left shoulder of Bernier to make it 3-1.
After a Dave Bolland goal for the Maple Leafs, Wayne Simmonds joined the party. After Toronto could not control a bouncing puck Simmonds stole it from Nazem Kadri in front of the net and snuck it past Bernier. Andrew MacDonald was awarded an assist on the play, his 2nd point since coming to Philadelphia.
This was a game the Flyers had to have. Now sitting at 85 points, they keep pace with the Rangers so there's still hope of home-ice advantage in the playoffs. They also avoid falling closer to that heap of teams stalled at 80 points, of which the Maple Leafs are part of. (along with Detroit, Columbus & Washington)
The next game is against the Boston Bruins at the Well, Sunday at 12:30pm. It was moved up to a slightly earlier start so NBC could air it, which kind of annoys me because 12:30pm on a weekend might as well be 8:30 am for me. Here's hoping that Boston is already satisfied with clinching the Atlantic Division and will take it easy!
-Ben Lebo
Follow us on Twitter: @BroadStBeat
Former Flyer, James van Riemsdyk, scored the quickest goal against the Flyers to start a period in team history only 4 seconds into period 2. After Toronto won the opening face-off the Leafs took it quickly down the ice where only one defenseman was waiting, since the Flyers had a few seconds left on the penalty kill. Timonen was the only Flyer in the defensive zone as Coburn was playing up on the wing during the face-off.
Scott Hartnell would answer during the second period to take the lead back. After a quick face-off win by G, Timonen whipped one at the net that Hartnell was able to redirect. The goal was called off initially by the linesman because of a possible high stick, but that was quickly corrected. The stick was well below the crossbar's height. That goal made Hartnell the fifth Flyer this season to hit the 20 goal mark.
The points keep piling up for Giroux. He added another goal to his total in the third period. Giroux found himself with a lot of space to work with after entering the zone and instead of setting up an offense decided to fire one at the net. His plant worked well, as he ripped an absolute laser over the left shoulder of Bernier to make it 3-1.
After a Dave Bolland goal for the Maple Leafs, Wayne Simmonds joined the party. After Toronto could not control a bouncing puck Simmonds stole it from Nazem Kadri in front of the net and snuck it past Bernier. Andrew MacDonald was awarded an assist on the play, his 2nd point since coming to Philadelphia.
This was a game the Flyers had to have. Now sitting at 85 points, they keep pace with the Rangers so there's still hope of home-ice advantage in the playoffs. They also avoid falling closer to that heap of teams stalled at 80 points, of which the Maple Leafs are part of. (along with Detroit, Columbus & Washington)
The next game is against the Boston Bruins at the Well, Sunday at 12:30pm. It was moved up to a slightly earlier start so NBC could air it, which kind of annoys me because 12:30pm on a weekend might as well be 8:30 am for me. Here's hoping that Boston is already satisfied with clinching the Atlantic Division and will take it easy!
-Ben Lebo
Follow us on Twitter: @BroadStBeat
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