On Thursday night, Philadelphia Flyers’ four-game post All-Star break winning streak came to a close as they lost in overtime against Toronto Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena 4-3, though their point streak now extends five games as they gained one additional point against New Jersey Devils for automatic playoff qualification in Metropolitan Division.
On Saturday night in East Rutherford, New Jersey, where they will face the Flyers for the Stadium Series matchup at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, New Jersey suffered a 2-1 home loss against the LA Kings at Prudential Center, giving Philadelphia (29-19-7) an eight-point advantage in the Metropolitan Division over third-place New Jersey (27-22-4).
On Thursday in Toronto, Philadelphia’s Flyers performed well throughout most of a game that went to sudden death overtime; their strengths lay in the first period, the opening 10 minutes of middle frame and majority of third period. But Philly failed to secure possession during an additional 54 second sudden death overtime period and fell by 7-3 to Toronto.
At the end of the night, Toronto’s star players proved too much for Philadelphia to overcome. Auston Matthews scored three even strength tallies and an power play marker during the second period (goals 43 through 45 on his season for Rocket Richard Trophy leader status); Mitch Marner registered three assists (36 through 38 in 2023-24; William Nylander scored 27th goal; assisted on 36th assist and produced overtime winner); Mitch Marner assisted on three assists as well.
Travis Konecy tallied both goals on special teams for Philadelphia; Travis Sanheim scored their game-opening 13th shorthanded goal just seconds after Konecny hit the post on a shorthanded breakaway attempt; in the third period, their forechecking and hard work paid off with Garnet Hathaway scoring 5th, followed 61 seconds later by Konecny scoring an empty-netter on power play for Philly at 14:14 to tie things up at 3-3 and end the scoring of this one-sided contest. Also Read: Tragedy Strikes Kansas City Chiefs Parade
Ersson blocked 24 of 28 shots, while Samsonov recorded 29 saves out of 32 attempts and earned the win.
Cam York left the game during the third period after receiving a hit from Samuel Benoit behind Toronto’s net. Nicolas Deslauriers came quickly to York’s defense by dropping gloves with Benoit before killing off Deslauriers’ instigator minor penalty and appearing to gain momentum for their side of play.
On Friday afternoon (2 p.m. ET), the Flyers will hold practice at MetLife Stadium, and then on Saturday at 8 p.m. ET, they will face off against the Devils for the Stadium Series Game. Each of the first two contests of the four-game season series have ended in overtime, and both sides have one victory each in this four-game set. The final game to come will take place on April 13 at Wells Fargo Center.
Also Read:
- Connor McDavid wins $1M US prize in NHL All-Star Skills Competition
- Team Hughes’ Winning Lineup Dominates NHL All-Star
- Officials Excited to Participate in First All-Star Game
