Flyers Fall to Maple Leafs in Marathon Shootout

By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 

For the second straight night, the Flyers needed a shootout to decide a game. This one went much longer than Friday night's standard three-round affair.

It took until the eighth round for a goal to be scored. Travis Konecny got the Flyers on the board. Jason Spezza answered.

Finally, in the 11th round, Andreas Johnsson managed to beat Brian Elliott for the deciding goal, as the Flyers dropped a hard-fought contest, 4-3, to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday night at Wells Fargo Center.

Toronto controlled play early in the first and finally caught the Flyers with their speed.

Kasperi Kapanen got a breakaway after Travis Sanheim fell at the Flyers blue line. Kapanen sped past and beat Elliott with a high shot over the shoulder to give Toronto the 1-0 lead.

Halfway through the period, the Maple Leafs had a 10-1 shot advantage and were dominating possession. A bench minor for too many men on the ice gave the Flyers a chance to even things up late in the period and they did.

A point shot by Ivan Provorov changed directions twice, getting deflected by Mitch Marner in the slot and again by Morgan Rielly at the side of the net, eluding Frederik Andersen in the process to tie the game at one.

Despite the 12-5 disparity in shots in the period, the Flyers came away from the first in a 1-1 tie with Toronto.

The Flyers got another power play early in the second and again cashed in. Starting at the left circle, Claude Giroux got control of the puck and drifted toward the goal line, cutting in on goal and tucking the puck under Andersen to give the Flyers a 2-1 lead at 3:12. 

The Flyers had two other power-play chances in the period and generated several chances on both, but were unable to score. As the period progressed, the Flyers erased the deficit in shots, going from being down 10-1 at the halfway point of the first to ahead 21-19 in shots at the end of the second.

But late in the period, Toronto got the game tied and got some momentum back.

From behind the net, Kapanen reversed the puck and it bounced off Spezza and in front to Ilya Mikheyev. Mikheyev tried to make a move around Elliott, but put his shot off the skate of Sanheim. As the Flyers tried to dig the puck out and clear it from the crease, Spezza came around and poked it barely across the goal line to even the score at two. 

Seconds later, the Maple Leafs got their first power play of the game with Matt Niskanen taking an interference penalty.

Just 31 seconds into the third period, the Flyers got the lead again. Sanheim shook a defender at the right circle and put a shot on goal. Andersen left a rebound and could not recover, as Sanheim came around the net and put it into the net for his first goal of the season.

With the two teams skating at 4-on-4, Toronto tied the game back up at 5:03. Off a neutral-zone turnover by Sean Couturier, Mitch Marner got the puck and raced up ice, moved around Niskanen and got Elliott to overcommit at the left post. Marner went behind the net and tucked in a wraparound to tie things up at three.

The rest of the period featured some good back-and-forth hockey as both teams generated quality chances looking for the lead. Shots were 10-5 Flyers in the period as the teams headed for overtime.

The Flyers got a power play just 42 seconds into the overtime but were unable to score. In the closing moments of overtime, Travis Konecny had a breakaway but was stopped by Andersen, and the game headed to a shootout.

In the shootout, the Flyers and Maple Leafs went back and forth for seven rounds without a goal. A few Flyers missed the net. All seven of Toronto's shooters had been stopped. Finally, Konecny scored on a quick release following a move to give the Flyers the lead. Spezza made a dazzling move at the other end to tie things back up. The Flyers were stopped on the next three attempts. Rielly hit the post in the 10th round before Johnsson scored in the 11th to seal the result.

Elliott made 23 saves on 26 shots in regulation and overtime. Andersen made 37 saves on 40 shots. 

Provorov, Giroux and Voracek each finished with two points for the Flyers. Spezza and Kapanen had two-point games for Toronto.

The Flyers get the next two days off from game action before returning to home ice to face the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday night at 7 p.m.

Box Score

Scoring Summary

1st Period

• TOR Kasperi Kapanen (4) (Morgan Rielly, Jason Spezza) 5:55
• PHI Ivan Provorov (3) PP (Claude Giroux, Jake Voracek) 15:02

2nd Period

• PHI Giroux (3) PP (Provorov, Voracek) 3:12
• TOR Spezza (1) (Ilya Mikheyev, Kapanen) 17:55

3rd Period

• PHI Travis Sanheim (1) (Sean Couturier, Oskar Lindblom) 0:31
• TOR Mitch Marner (4) (Unassisted) 5:03

Overtime

• No Scoring

Shootout

• PHI Sean Couturier – Save
• TOR Auston Matthews – Save
• PHI Claude Giroux – Save
• TOR Mitch Marner – Save
• PHI Oskar Lindblom – Miss
• TOR Kasperi Kapanen – Save
• PHI Jake Voracek – Save
• TOR William Nylander – Save
• PHI Joel Farabee – Miss
• TOR Dmytro Timashov – Save
• PHI Shayne Gostisbehere – Save
• TOR Tyson Barrie – Save
• PHI Travis Konecny – Goal
• TOR Jason Spezza – Goal
• PHI Michael Raffl – Save
• TOR Alexander Kerfoot – Save
• PHI James van Riemsdyk – Save
• TOR Morgan Rielly – Miss
• PHI Ivan Provorov – Save
• TOR Andreas Johnsson – Goal

Game Statistics