First Period

I'll be honest in advance. I don't even want to write up this period, but here we go.

Joe Woll made an early save deep in his net, and there was a review that seemed to return the answer that no one can see the puck. No goal.

The first fight of the night was a surprising Connor Dewar and Joel Farabee matchup.

Dewar perhaps making the point that he doesn't want to come out of the lineup for a Reaves festival game.

Ivan Fedotov with no saves required at 9:05 to go.

Jamie Drysdale took a penalty on a McMann net drive.

Still true after the Leafs power play which was astoundingly bad, and surely they could never be worse. <- fancy foreshadowing here

Joe Woll just barely made a save, well he didn't, Max Pacioretty did.

Tippett took a well-deserved boarding call. Would the Leafs get another SOG?

Hathaway with the second Flyers rush of the PP on an offensive zone giveaway by Marner.

Still only 1 SOG after what was the most incoherent power play since the days I wanted Marc Savard fired.

After one it was 1-0 Flyers.

The Leafs ran around behind the Flyers like eager puppies begging for that black round toy for most of the period.

It's not like the Leafs never shot the puck, The Corsi was 25-19 for the Flyers. Fenwick (unblocked shots) was 22-11 for the Flyers, and the SOG were 10-2.

The Leafs quit blocking shots, the Flyers didn't and most of the Leafs unblocked shots were misses. How not to score.

Second Period

The Flyers took a high-sticking call in the first few seconds. Berube put out the five-forward power-play unit.

It was shaky at first, but eventually they got setup and John Tavares tied the game. I'm frankly amazed considering the prior two efforts.

Mitch Marner took a hooking call, and in less than half a minute, the Flyers took a high-sticking call.

Conor Timmins gave the puck away when two Leafs players had already wandered off for a line change, leaving Bobby McMann as the sole forward in the Leafs zone.

Auston Matthews scored at the very end of the short Leafs power play because he loves us best. Or maybe because the mini-PP was very well executed and they had the puck and were moving their feet.

David Kämpf took a hooking call, but the Flyers are now really bad on the power play and there wasn't much danger.

After two it was two-all.

Were the Leafs better? Yeah, they were in some ways, and to be clear, the Flyers were not exactly great in the first, but the Leafs look tired when they shouldn't be, and they aren't controlling the puck well. They got outshot at the Corsi level much worse.

All-situations to be as kind as possible to the Leafs, but that's not really much going on.

Third Period

Scott Laughton and Matvei Michkov collided, and Laughton at least looked very shaky, and left the ice with assistance.

Both players eventually went to the locker room for concussion protocol.

Laughton was back in a very short period of time. Michkov took a little longer.

This period was almost exactly like the last game's third period for long stretches. Nothing exciting, a lot of desultory up and down the ice, often with no save required by the goalie.

The Leafs finally got some pressure going, and boom it was in. (Amazing what can happen when you shoot the puck.) Matt Knies with a tip.

The game had heated up now that both teams are trying to score. No way the Flyers weren't trying to ride out the tie.

Pacioretty flipped the puck into the bench for a penalty to make things more interesting. Good PK and a better Woll for two minutes.

Flyers pulled the goalie with two minutes to go. Owen Tippett had a wide-open net and put the puck through the crease. Knies took a hooking call so they have to hold the lead with 47 seconds left.

Leafs struggled to get the puck out of the zone. Marner and Matthews get it done finally, and Matthews draws a tripping call to even up the numbers a little.

Flyers can't do anything with the last few seconds.

Final score was 3-2 Leafs. Leafs had the puck the most in the third, so they got to competence in the end. Woll was the best player in the game, but this is the play that decided the third period:

Next game is Thursday in Carolina, see you then.

Game Coverage