The Flyers look to continue their winning ways when they host the Toronto Maple Leafs Tuesday night from the Wells Fargo Center for a 7pm puck drop.
Both teams come in on three-game winning streaks, but on very different paths overall as Christmas looms around the corner. Toronto is fourth in the league in points while Philadelphia sits at 11-11-7, the proverbial .500 mark, and dead last in the Metropolitan Division.
The good news for the Flyers is that they’ve won three-straight and didn’t look nearly
as bad as their 10-game losing streak indicated they were. A big reason why has been the play of goaltender Brian Elliott, who was named the NHL’s third star of the week following three wins on the Canadian swing for the Flyers.
Another boon on the trip was a rise in the goal scoring department, where the Flyers scored at least four goals in all three games while allowing just five goals, thanks in large part to Elliott’s stellar play. And for once, some of that goal scoring came from secondary sources like Michael Raffl (three goals on trip), Jordan Weal (one), Dale Weise (one), Valterri Filppula (one), and Scott Laughton (two).
They’ll need more of the same when battling a very good Maple Leafs team, who may be without the services of all-world forward Auston Matthews, who missed the last Leafs game with a hand injury. In his stead, the Leafs needed just a first period Jake Hyman goal to beat the Oilers 1-0 final on Saturday night.
Toronto is fifth in the league in goal scoring at 3.35 per game and has the sixth-best power play to go along with it at 21.34%. The Leafs’ power play should prove to be a large test for the Flyers’ 26th-ranked penalty kill, though the Flyers did kill off all six penalties on the recent road trip.
Helping matters on the penalty kill will be defenseman Radko Gudas, who returns from a 10-game suspension in time to face the high-flying Leafs. Gudas will be paired with rookie Travis Sanheim for coach Dave Hakstol tonight.
The matchup between the pipes should be a good one, as both Brian Elliott and Frederik Andersen have been on a roll lately. Elliott stopped 103 of 108 shots on the road trip, and currently holds a 2.79 goals-against average and a .912 save percentage this season. Andersen has won four of his past five starts to go along with a 2.67 goals-against average and a .922 save percentage. He’s tied for second in the NHL with 17 wins and has three shutout.
If the Flyers are going to win their fourth-straight, they’re going to need to earn it against one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference and quite possibly a Stanley Cup contender. The Leafs haven’t won a Cup since 1967.
Here is the Flyers’ (subject to changes) lineup vs. Toronto:
Forwards
Giroux – Couturier – Simmonds
Raffl – Filppula – Voracek
Weal – Patrick – Weise
Leier – Laughton – Konecny
Defense
Provorov – MacDonald
Gostisbehere – Hagg
Sanheim – Gudas
Goalies
Elliott
Lyon
