The Flyers and Leafs played hockey Saturday night. Or attempted to. But an extremely slow, choppy, and at times chippy contest resulted in a 5-2 win for Toronto, and the first subpar effort of the season from Philadelphia goaltender Dan Vladar.
The basics
First period: 1:09 – Christian Dvorak (Nikita Grebenkin, Travis Konecny), 6:16 – Auston Matthews (Morgan Rielly, Nick Robertson)
Second period: 8:14 – Jake McCabe (Chris Tanev, Matias Maccelli), 17:34 – Nick Robertson (Matthew Knies, John Tavares)
Third period: 0:33 – Easton Cowan (John Tavares), 16:08 – Tyson Foerster (Trevor Zegras, Matvei Michkov) (PPG), 19:41 – Calle Jarnkrok (Dakota Joshua) (ENG)
SOG: 33 (PHI) – 27 (TOR)
Some takeaways
Vladar not very good
Dan Vladar got the nod on Saturday night, and had a rather quiet start, not making his first save until five minutes into the first on a Max Domi shot. Vladar, who most likely will not be playing Sunday night against the visiting Flames, didn’t have much of a chance against Matthews. The rest of the period Vladar had to be alert as the Flyers spent more time in their own zone then they’d like to. But a lot of the shot attempts were blocked with good sticks or body positioning from the skaters. Vladar wasn’t busy but he had to be prepared much of the first.
As for the second, Vladar couldn’t be blamed much for the second goal as Jake McCabe’s shot from near the blueline had him badly screened. Minutes later Travis Sanheim did Vladar a huge solid, keeping Matthew Knies from getting his stick on the puck for an easy tap-in which would’ve made it 3-1. But at the end of two, the Leafs had a trio of goals.
In the third, with the Flyers needing to get off to a great start, Leafs forward Easton Cowan beat Vladar clean 33 seconds into the frame for his first NHL goal. And that was essentially all she wrote. Vladar was perhaps due for a clunker at some point. This was one of those.
First unit/second unit
Tocchet was coy about admitting who might be the Flyers first power play unit and who might be the second. But on the Flyers’ first power play of the night in the second period (a too many men minor to Toronto), the quintet of Brink, Foerster, Cates, Zegras, and Drysdale were humming. They should’ve scored, but a shot went off the post and straight across the goal line before Toronto’s Anthony Stolarz found it. Lot of prime chances and going to the dirty areas. Good stuff.
The other (second?) unit, well, they didn’t develop much on the first power play and had some hassles simply getting into the zone. However, Konecny had a shot late but his quick one-timer was stopped. This unit began the second power play as the Cates line drew the penalty. Here Tippett had a great one-timer that didn’t go, but the overall execution looked much better.
As for the third power play, the Flyers desperately needed a goal here. But it was perhaps the weakest of the three opportunities. Nothing went right. Shortly afterwards the Flyers thought they had scored but the officials initially ruled it to be hit with a high stick. Rodrigo Abols was the guy who hit the puck and got his own rebound. Officials went to video review and didn’t change their initial decision. In short, the fourth power play mirrored the other three: no dice. Finally, on the fifth of the evening, Philadelphia got one when Tyson Foerster ripped a one-timer to the stick side of Stolarz to put the Flyers two shots away from tying the game.
Tys tallies his fourth and Z extends his home point streak to eight games. ✔️#TORvsPHI | #LetsGoFlyers pic.twitter.com/mdsYbfi3zY
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) November 2, 2025
Overall Philadelphia finished one for six on the power play, on a night where they needed a few more to get at least a point out of the contest.
Some line juggling
The absence of Sean Couturier (at least for this game) meant the lines were a bit jumbled. The line of Noah Cates, Tyson Foerster and Bobby Brink started and was kept whole. However, head coach Rick Tocchet threw the blender in with a few others, notably Christian Dvorak centering Nikita Grebenkin and Travis Konecny. That line was money early on. Grebenkin, who received a pass behind the net from Konecny, found Dvorak in front who beat Toronto’s Anthony Stolarz rather clean for a quick (and early) lead.
Christian Dvorak gives the Flyers an early 1-0 off the setup from Nikita Grebenkin.
— Andrew Coté (@acote_88) November 1, 2025
Goal: Dvorak (3)pic.twitter.com/07pbbvGUk9
TMZ a thing?
Owen Tippett, Trevor Zegras, and Matvei Michkov were thrown together starting the game. And they looked like they could be doing something as a unit. The line had a few chances early and then went to work later in the first period, keeping Toronto hemmed in but unable to get the tie-breaking goal. The fact the trio looked to be on the same page instantaneously was impressive. Time will tell if that line remains a unit when Couturier returns. Michkov also had a nifty shoulder check on Auston Matthews that sent the Leaf on his backside. And an hit that was deemed interference by Michkov in the third left defenseman Chris Tanev on the ice for an extended period of time. Tanev was taken off on a stretcher.
The Leafs didn’t appreciate the hit and tried to make Michkov pay the rest of the night. However, he seemed capable of handling himself. A dangerous hit on Brink near the end of the game fortunately didn’t injure him but could’ve very easily.
Faceoff failures and no flow
Early on in the contest, the Leafs were absolutely destroying Philadelphia on the faceoff dot, winning 11 of the first 12 in the game. It was obvious the Flyers might be at a disadvantage with Couturier out and Trevor Zegras still learning his way around the faceoff circle. However the Flyers started winning a bit more of them as the period went on. Overall though, they sure did miss their captain. With 15 minutes to go in the game, the Leafs were winning over 60 percent of the faceoffs, just as obscene as the fact there were 50 of them in the first 45 minutes of regulation. Proof there was very little flow to the game from start to finish as 67 faceoffs transpired, with the Flyers winning 43.3 percent of them (29 for 67).
Foerster avoids injury
Foerster took a shot off his heel or ankle seconds prior to Toronto’s first goal by Auston Matthews, as a shot by Morgan Rielly took him down. Foerster got up seconds later but by then Matthews had buried the shot by Vladar to tie things up. Foerster hobbled to the bench and then headed down the hallway to the locker room. Fortunately, moments later Foerster returned to the ice to take a regular shift. Hopefully it’s a case of something that was a stinger and not something he battled through against Toronto only to find out Sunday there was in fact something not quite right.
Back-breaker
The Flyers were keeping a lot of sustained pressure on Toronto in the dying minutes of the second period. Unfortunately, they simply couldn’t score despite having a lot of offensive zone time. Toronto cleared the puck and seconds later had an insurance goal when Nick Robertson rifled a wrister over Vladar’s glove to make it 3-1.
Konecny undisciplined
Travis Konency probably did the two things Tocchet has preached about not doing since day one. One infraction he can’t stand are stick infractions. The other revolves around discipline, namely keeping your mouth shut to the officials. Unfortunately, Konecny was pushed from behind and his stick clipped a Leaf in the face. No blood was drawn and it should’ve been a two-minute minor.
Unfortunately, a missed high stick that hit Konecny went unnoticed. And the forward’s mouth got him an extra minor. Granted, the Leafs power play isn’t quite the same without Mitch Marner. But any time you have to face Matthews for four minutes down a man is a horrible proposition. Fortunately, the Flyers killed the first minor and bent but didn’t break on the second.
