The Philadelphia Flyers (6-4-1) saw their 3-game winning streak snapped after the Toronto Maple Leafs (6-5-1) came into town and left with a 5-2 victory.
The Flyers opened the scoring on their first shot of the game courtesy of Christian Dvorak before the Leafs scored the next 4 goals, spread out into all three periods. Tyson Foerster cut the deficit late but then Calle Järnkrok iced things with an empty netter.
Anthony Stolarz made 31 saves en route to the victory, whereas Dan Vladař allowed 4 goals on 19 shots and was relieved of his duties by Aleksei Kolosov after the 4th goal. The Belarusian rookie made seven saves in his first appearance of the 2025-26 season.
Leafs defenseman Chris Tanev was forced to exit the game on a stretcher after a collision with Matvei Michkov in the third period. The two collided at centre ice before Tanev dropped to the ice and remained there before being helped on a stretcher by the medical staff. He had just come off IR for a concussion ahead of this game and hopefully everything is okay with the veteran defenseman.
This was game four of their five-game homestand, the Flyers entered in high spirits after having won their previous three contests, but they were without their captain Sean Couturier, who was forced out of their win against Nashville with an undisclosed injury.
FIRST PERIOD
The high-flying Flyers opened the scoring just 1:09 into the game after Dvorak finished a nice passing play from Travis Konecny and Nikita Grebenkin, with the latter picking up the primary assist against his former team. The Flyers dumped and chased and Konecny then dropped it back to Grebenkin, who one-touched his pass to Dvorak for a one-timer in the slot that beat Stolarz glove-high.
The lead didn’t last all that long after the Maple Leafs tied it at the 6:16 mark. Auston Matthews snapped his modest 3-game point drought with a wire from the faceoff circle. Foerster was down after blocking a shot, which allowed Morgan Rielly to set up Matthews to walk in alone in the slot for his 7th goal of the season.
Konecny was called for a high-sticking minor and was then stamped with an additional unsportsmanlike conduct for complaining, which gave the Leafs a 4-minute power play. However, despite a lot of offensive zone time, the Flyers stood tall, blocked a lot of shots, and killed off both penalties to keep the game tied.
SECOND PERIOD
After a back-and-forth second period that saw the Flyers run a very nice looking power play, the Maple Leafs took the lead off the stick of Jake McCabe at the 8:18 mark of the middle frame. Tanev set up his defensive partner at the point before McCabe fired a harmless looking shot through heavy traffic that got past Vladař.
After another power play filled with offensive zone time, scoring chances, and high possession, the Flyers were unable to score and it gifted the Leafs momentum. Nicholas Robertson scored with 2:26 remaining in the second period after some big saves made by Stolarz. Matthew Knies dropped a pass as he entered the zone before Robertson wired a hard shot over the glove of Vladař.
THIRD PERIOD
Things went from bad to worse for the Flyers just 33 seconds into the third period after Easton Cowan notched his first career NHL tally. The rookie was able to walk in unscathed after a solid set up by John Tavares before wiring the short far-side past Vladař. The goal also spelled the end for the Czechia native as Kolosov entered in relief.
After another power play that didn’t net a goal, the Flyers looked to have cut the deficit in half at the 4:15 mark after an Egor Zamula blast was deflected down by Rodrigo Ābols, but the referees immediately waived it off for a high-stick. After conferring with one another, the referees confirmed the call and it remained no goal.
A scary scene occurred with 11:37 remaining after Tanev was laid out on the ice before being stretchered off after an accidental bump-in with Michkov. Tanev had just come been activated off IR for a concussion, and while it didn’t look intentional, Tanev remained on the ice until he was helped off by the medical staff. The Leafs then received a power play with Michkov off for interference.
With the game’s temperature rising, Simon Benoit was called for a roughing penalty and the Flyers finally scored on the power play after Foerster ripped a shot past Stolarz off a great setup from Trevor Zegras and Michkov with 3:52 remaining.
Bobby Brink was then drilled into the boards by Oliver Ekman-Larsson, which sent the Flyers back on the power play with over 2:30 left. They pressured the Leafs and threw the kitchen sink towards Stolarz but he kept his cool and stopped everything else thrown his way. Järnkrok iced the game with an empty-netter as the Flyers’ three-game winning streak was snapped.
UP NEXT
The Flyers are right back at it and host the Calgary Flames on Sunday at Xfinity Mobile Arena. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:00pm ET.
