Flyers Strike for 5 in 3rd, Defeat Maple Leafs

By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 

A flukey bounce landed behind Carter Hart and bounced into the net with 11:22 to play in the third period. It was the first goal from Toronto all night and it happened to tie up a tight hockey game at one apiece.

In just 1:38, the Flyers responded and retook the lead at the midpoint of the third period. They never looked back, adding four more goals down the stretch in a five-goal third period, securing a win on Tuesday night at Wells Fargo Center against the Toronto Maple Leafs, 6-1, to extend their winning streak to five games.

Toronto opened the game with six of the first eight shots. Hart was up to the task with saves on each, including a nice pad save in close on John Tavares

The Maple Leafs also had the only power play of the first period. Tavares got three shots in short order and Auston Matthews was robbed by the glove of Hart. The Flyers successfully killed off the penalty.

After 20 minutes of play, there was still no score. Shots in the opening period were 15-7 Toronto.

The Flyers were finally able to solve Frederik Andersen and break the ice midway through the second. Kevin Hayes controlled the puck in the offensive zone, shaking off Matthews and Justin Holl. He centered to the front of the net where Scott Laughton was there to knock it into the net for the opening goal. It was Laughton's third goal of the season at 8:49.

The Flyers had two power plays in the second and failed to score. They also hit two posts down the stretch in the period. 

Through two periods, shots favored Toronto, 23-15. 

The Flyers held the one-goal until the 8:38 mark of the period when a fortunate bounce allowed Toronto to tie the game. Off a face-off, Travis Dermott fired a shot from the point that hit off of Hart's shoulder, bounced high in the air and landed behind him, banking into the net to tie the game.

The Flyers made quick work after that erasing the marker for Toronto and getting the lead back. Claude Giroux was in the slot to bury the no-look feed from Travis Konecny behind the net for his ninth goal of the season to give the Flyers the 2-1 lead at the halfway point of the period.

With time winding down, the Flyers got an odd-man rush and made Toronto pay for it. Konecny carried into the zone and took care of business himself, firing a shot past Andersen for his 10th goal of the season with 3:28 to play.

Just over a minute later, Joel Farabee finished off Ivan Provorov's long clear off the post and into the empty net to seal the win. But the Flyers didn't stop there. Shayne Gostisbehere and James van Riemsdyk added goals separated by 12 seconds in the final minute of the game to cap the scoring.

Hart finished with 27 saves on 28 shots in the win. Andersen stopped 23 of 28 shots faced.

Phil Myers finished the game with three assists. Konecny and Gostisbehere each had a goal and an assist.

Flyers forward Michael Raffl left the game late in the second period and did not return. Following the game, it was announced that Raffl suffered a broken right pinky and will miss approximately four weeks.

The Flyers look to extend their winning streak to six games when they take on the Arizona Coyotes on Thursday night at 7 p.m.

Box Score

  1 2 3 T
Maple Leafs 0 0 1 1
Flyers 0 1 5 6

Scoring Summary

1st Period

  • No Scoring

2nd Period

  • PHI Scott Laughton (3) (Kevin Hayes, Matt Niskanen) 8:49

3rd Period

  • TOR Travis Dermott (3) (Jason Spezza) 8:38
  • PHI Claude Giroux (9) (Travis Konecny, Phil Myers) 10:00
  • PHI Konecny (10) (Myers) 16:32
  • PHI Joel Farabee (3) EN (Ivan Provorov) 17:54
  • PHI Shayne Gostisbehere (3) (Travis Sanheim) 19:21
  • PHI James van Riemsdyk (6) (Myers, Gostisbehere) 19:33

Game Statistics

  Maple Leafs Flyers
Shots 28 29
Power Plays 0/1 0/3
Hits 12 21
Faceoff % 40.0% 60.0%
Giveaways 8 13
Takeaways 6 12
Blocked Shots 20 8
Penalty Minutes 6 2
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