The Game: 7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN+, 97.5 The Fanatic
The Philadelphia Flyers walked into Scotiabank Arena with a general hope to not be embarrassed by the hosting Toronto Maple Leafs. Thankfully, they did not and played an overall solid game of hockey that had to be decided in overtime. They lost, but it’s the effort that truly counts and they easily could have walked away from that dang arena with two points.
And now, the home-and-home continues as the Flyers are back at the Wells Fargo Center to put on what might feel like an impossible performance: To do the exact same thing again against a very good team.
The Leafs find themselves cemented as the top team in the Atlantic Division and are second in the Eastern Conference. This has all been said just two days ago, but of course, they are living up to expectation and now just have to wait and see what the playoffs hold in store for them. Beyond some minor goals of maybe winning the division or reaching the 100-point mark, that is really all that matters right now. So, could they maybe take their foot off the gas for this second collision against the Flyers in 48 hours?
Storylines to watch
Ivan Fedotov starting again
The only thing we can talk about right now and the most pressing matter pertaining to the Flyers is the goaltending. As it always is in Philadelphia, the man between the pipes feels the burden of thousands. This season is maybe the least hopeful and least productive we have seen from this team in quite a while.
Sam Ersson is currently injured but is back skating and John Tortorella is hoping he will be back soon. So that leaves the giant Ivan Fedotov and little young Aleksei Kolosov. After the latter put up a miserable performance in the crease, Fedotov was handed his first start in a very long time in Toronto and was respectable with saving 22 of the 25 shots he faced. Not the best, but what can you expect?
And now, instead of splitting the load between the two netminders, the Flyers are returning to Fedotov. It is both a display of complete distrust in Kolosov being able to hold off the Leafs’ firepower but also riding the lukewarm hand and going with the older goalie. Can he do it again and let the Leafs score just a few goals?
Cates line continues to produce
Maybe the hottest line in Philadelphia right now is the trio of Tyson Foerster, Noah Cates, and Bobby Brink. Ink has been spilled on this line but we just cannot get over how this combination just works. They scored again, as Foerster notched a goal in his quasi homecoming in Southern Ontario. And suddenly, the find themselves among the top lines in the entire NHL when it comes to driving play.
We will not go into detail here because that will be an eventual article, so read and subscribe.
Matthews on a heater since returning from injury
Auston Matthews is being Auston Matthews again. In the two games since he came back from a long absence due to injury, he has scored one goal and has five points. Nasty. Before, there were doubts if he was going to really care the Leafs offense on his back. Matthews was just chugging along under a point per game, but thanks to this fiery return he has 28 points in the 26 games he has appeared in. Watch out, once again.
Projected lineups
Philadelphia Flyers
Scott Laughton — Morgan Frost — Matvei Michkov
Tyson Foerster — Noah Cates — Bobby Brink
Owen Tippett — Ryan Poehling — Travis Konecny
Joel Farabee — Sean Couturier — Garnet Hathaway
Cam York — Travis Sanheim
Egor Zamula — Rasmus Ristolainen
Nick Seeler — Jamie Drysdale
Ivan Fedotov
(Aleksei Kolosov)
Toronto Maple Leafs
Matthew Knies — Auston Matthews — Mitch Marner
Max Pacioretty — John Tavares — William Nylander
Bobby McMann — Max Domi — Nicholas Robertson
Steven Lorentz — David Kampf — Connor Dewar
Morgan Rielly — Chris Tanev
Simon Benoit — Philippe Myers
Oliver Ekman-Larsson — Conor Timmins
Joseph Woll
(Dennis Hildeby)
