Recap: Leafs beat the Flyers with a lot of goals — a couple are milestones

Once again, the Flyers live down to their billing as a team that just doesn’t have anything much going on this season.

Here come the Flyers! Or, I suppose, here come the Leafs, since we’re in Flyers-land.

With the back-to-back, there’s two changes to the lineup, with Wayne Simmonds coming in on the night Ed Snider is honoured, and Conor Timmins subbing in for TJ Brodie.

First Period

Carter Hart is down and out twice in the first minute as the Leafs come out hot.

Owen Tippett gets a rush chance and Murray makes a very good save.

Murray with another good save. The Flyers have three SOG, and Murray has had to work on ²⁄₃ of them.

Holy cow. Mitch Marner does the “Mitch Marner” and hands a goal to Calle Järnkrok.

1-0 Leafs

Calle says thank you.

He was shown on the bench a couple of minutes later, looking like the guy who has the cheat code for this game. (It’s #16.)

Murray stones James van Riemsdyk, which maybe we’ll see in practice in a couple of months? Maybe?

Pontus Holmberg is always in the right place, and he turned that into a goal for Zach Aston-Reese.

2-0 Leafs

Mitch Marner, who once played for team Canada on a line with Travis Konecny, gets his second great assist of the game on this goal:

2-1 Leafs

Thoughts

Murray establishing his alibi is the reason to watch this game.

The Leafs came out hot, and played mostly well, but the Corsi is even, and while the xG favours the Maple Leafs, it amounts to less than half a goal. The difference is the happenstance of the ZAR goal. The Marner passes cancel each other out.

Second Period

The Leafs come out pretty hot again, and then Auston Matthews goes off for high sticking. The Flyers have nothing on the power play. The crowd is booing them with about as much verve as the team is playing.

Meanwhile Conor Timmins went off to the room after a scrum in front of the net, but he’s back quickly.

Leafs-typical bench shenanigans cause two defenders to jump off, and the Flyers get yet another rush chance against.

Timmins!!!!!! His first NHL goal, and it’s this old-tymey rocket from the point (or as close as you get these days).

3-1 Leafs

This was also a Mitch Marner assist, so he’s on a roll tonight.

The Flyers tough guy Nic Deslauriers gets his second goal of the year.

3-2 Leafs

And away we go with the rush chances against, the track-meet, pond hockey, puck-a-doodle-do. It’s fun, sure. At least when you’re winning.

Mark Giordano takes an interference penalty trying to stop the flying Flyers.

Liljegren tried the rocket Timmins-style on a pass from Marner, but this time no-go, he gets the post.

Oh, that’s hilarious. Liljegren with 65% of the same power off the faceoff and in it goes.

4-2 Leafs

Or right, sorry, both of those were PK chances. LOLOL.

JT with a really nice goal off a turnover.

5-2 Leafs

Holmberg gets the stick in on Ristolainen, and OH NO, the Flyers are on the PP again.

It’s easy to forget the Flyers are even on a PP, but then two minutes later, they’ve got the Leafs hemmed in and look like they actually do know how to cycle a puck and open up lanes.

Leafs get their first power play with one minute to go. And yes, Morgan Rielly is on the power play, and Sheldon Keefe had said they would do that when they have the lead.

No joy, and there will be about 40 seconds left of it in the third.

Thoughts

I had to look it up, the Flyers have the second lowest CF/60 on the PP behind (LOL) Montréal. Philly is the worst at xG/60, though. So yes, the Flyers have massive roster deficiencies and I’d start fixing this team by emptying out the executive suite, but they are poorly coached too.

Third Period

The Leafs begin with the second unit, and we segue right into the fourth line. If Keefe did that because he isn’t very happy with the way his big boys are playing, well — who wants to be a downer when you’re winning fun? — but I would agree with him that it’s been sloppy.

Toronto is on a delayed penalty, and the Flyers looked like they know what a power play is. Bunting goes off for high sticking,.

On the PK, Morgan Rielly, of all people, takes the puck on a rush off the faceoff, and good thing he gets back fast. Not sure his risk/reward settings are correct for PK duty.

Flyers with their best PP of the night. Leafs with their worst five minutes of the game.

Murray’s net comes off while the Leafs have just turned the puck over, and it’s the whole damn story over again. Blah, blah, doing it on purpose, no it’s his arm. (It’s the net.)

Bunting has been flipped down to the fourth line for Aston-Reese.

Great save by Hart on Matthews.

Simmonds comes close to scoring (I thought he’s been fine tonight) and he draws a penalty.

Matthews converts and makes it 6-2 Leafs

That’s his 20th goal.

Even the Leafs on a SEGABABA can’t screw up a 6-2 game, so that’s all she wrote.

Thoughts

Flyers gonna fly, one way or another.

Next games are back-to-backs on Wednesday and Thursday. And yes, there is travel between them.