In their first of three meetings, the Toronto Maple Leafs cooled off the Flyers on Saturday night. Let’s wrap:
Quick Strike
Just 1:09 into the first period, the new look line of Travis Konecny, Christian Dvorak and Nikita Grenbenkin gave the Flyers an early lead. It was Konecny who was able to chip a puck behind Toronto defensemen Chris Tanev and beat him in a foot race to the loose disc. Konecny then finessed a pass to Grebenkin, who then spotted Dvorak for the score. Unfortunately for the Flyers, that’d be the only offense the club could muster up until Tyson Foerster scored with 3:52 remaining in regulation.
“Offensively, we’re struggling,” Rick Tocchet said. “We’re passing up opportunities to shoot the puck and we don’t have people going to the net. We got to correct it and its on me to get these guys to do that.”
Tocchet also communicated that he liked to see the Flyers make less passing plays out high in the zone and to deliver the puck to the net with intentionality when they have traffic in front of the opposing goaltender. Through two periods, Philadelphia registered just 13 shots on goal so perhaps they are looking for the perfect play right now.
Toronto Time
After the Dvorak tally, Toronto flexed their offensive firepower in this game. Nick Robertson registered a goal and an assist in the win, while Auston Matthews scored his sixth goal of the season as well. Additionally, John Tavares picked up a couple helpers on the Robertson tally and another on Easton Cowan’s first career goal.
The Flyers, on the other hand, were as unlucky as they were outplayed. Philadelphia went 1-for-6 on the powerplay, but also hit two posts. Rodrigo Abols also had a goal waved off due to a suspect high sticking call by the officiating crew. Alas, that’s hockey. Sometimes the bounces just don’t go your way and on a different night, they could’ve easily been in this game.
Tanev Leaves Game in Scary Fashion
A very scary moment happened in this game with 11:37 left in regulation. Defensemen Chris Tanev was injured when he inadvertently collided with Matvei Michkov after shoulder-to-shoulder contact. It didn’t look like much, but the whiplash effect left Tanev face down on the ice for what felt like several minutes before he was ultimately stretchered off.
“It was just unfortunate play,” Travis Sanheim said. “You hope he’s okay and you feel bad for Mike too, he’s obviously upset about the hit. Overall, just not something you want to see.”
Saturday night’s game was Tanev’s first game back after missing four with a concussion. Obviously, some things are bigger than sports and we hope Tanev will be ok. He’s had a great career to this point with stops in Vancouver, Calgary, Dallas and now Toronto. Hopefully the 35-year-old makes a full recovery.
They Said It
Rick Tocchet on if he felt Dan Vladar struggled in net: “I don’t know that he struggled. I think we just backed in too much. We didn’t close, we didn’t stop plays out of the cycles. Don’t get me wrong, a lot of guys worked hard, but you saw some of the goals. They were good goals. We didn’t connect, they did.”
Rodrigo Abols on his disallowed goal: “There’s two ways I can look at it; get pissed off and be a baby about it or just look at it positively, and feel like every shift something’s coming so hopefully it will soon.”
Christian Dvorak on Sean Couturier’s absence from the lineup: “He’s obviously a big part of our team, there’s no replacing him, but it’s next man up. The league doesn’t care whose injured or not so everyone else has to step up.”
Did You Know?
According to #NHLStats, Dvorak’s goal marks the second time this season the Flyers have scored in the opening two minutes of a game. The only team that has done it more this year is Pittsburgh (4).
On Deck
Quick turnaround for the Flyers as they will return to action on Sunday, November 2nd, when they host Morgan Frost, Joel Farabee and the Calgary Flames. The game will be broadcast in locally on NBCSP with puckdrop set for 7:00 p.m.
