By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 
Saturday night's game against the Toronto Maple Leafs was not the first time this season the Flyers were looking at an opportunity to bounce back from a loss where they felt they deserved a better result. And for the second time this season, the Flyers were able to put the frustration of the previous game's loss behind them in a complete effort to win a game.
Facing an upstart and offensively-gifted Toronto team on the road is quite a task and the Flyers tackled it head-on.
Here is the Postgame Review.
Postgame Points
- Give a ton of credit to the Flyers for a strong defensive effort. After allowing six goals to Anaheim on Tuesday and five to Ottawa on Thursday, the idea of facing a lineup with Auston Matthews, Patrick Marleau, William Nylander, Nazem Kadri, Tyler Bozak, Mitch Marner and more wasn't exactly a good one leading up to puck drop.
But the Flyers, using the same lineup for the third game in a row, didn't let Toronto dictate the play for a good chunk of the game. This was another example of the Flyers improvement in speed. Toronto came at them in bursts at times and definitely generated strong scoring chances during those, but this was not a speed and skating clinic as games against Toronto were last season.
And the Flyers also had to do this for an entire period without Shayne Gostisbehere. So while rotating five defenseman, the Flyers silenced the Leafs talented offense. That's a huge accomplishment for a team that was facing some big questions about their defense since the loss of Andrew MacDonald to injury.
- Of course, a quality two points didn't come without a cost. Gostisbehere left the game with what was ruled an upper-body injury. Nothing more is known about his status moving forward at this time.
The hit from Leo Komarov that shook Gostisbehere was boarding. No other way to put it. It's the definition of it. Gostisbehere is at a distance from the boards, numbers facing Komarov and he finished his check right into the numbers, sending Gostisbehere sailing and his head slammed against the glass. And the officials kept the whistles in their pockets.
We can argue and complain about the officials and the rulebook in reference to the controversial calls in Thursday's loss from now until the end of the season and it won't change anything about the discretional ruling in which those calls were made. But that is the definition of a boarding penalty and one of many types of situations the league is trying to crack down on to prevent injury to players. For Komarov to go unpenalized is absurd.
- Defensively, the five Flyers that finished the game were very good, but Brandon Manning in particular has bounced back well since two really tough games since rejoining the lineup.
Manning not only scored his first goal of the season — one that actually counted — he was strong on his positioning throughout the game.
- Goaltending has also been a big question mark throughout the season, but Brian Elliott bounced back from his last start nicely in the win. Elliott made 28 saves, and many of them were tough with Toronto's speed and quick puck movement.
The veteran netminder remained steady throughout the game, especially through the early part of the third when Toronto started to press. Preserving the two-goal lead into the later stages of the final period put Toronto on their heels, and Elliott was a big part of that.
This was also Elliott's fifth win already this season. Say what you will about his performance — which aside from two losses against Nashville and Anaheim where he allowed six goals in each has been fine — but the Flyers are winning in front of him. That's now five of his seven starts that have ended in Flyers victories.
- It's nice to see the Flyers winning games with offense coming from two of their key leaders. Claude Giroux scored another goal at even strength, and Jake Voracek followed up his first goal of the season on Thursday with a pretty goal on Saturday.
Voracek has been very impressive this season with 16 points in 11 games. Giroux is now at six goals on the season and 12 points in 11 games.
Voracek definitely doesn't care what form the points come in, as long as they help the team get two points in the standings, and made as much known after the game. And fans shouldn't care either. These are the numbers fans should be expecting from Voracek and Giroux, and so far, they are delivering.
Quotable
"Trust me, I don't think about that. I try to play my game. If it's going to go in, it's going to go in. If it's not, I'm not going to get down on myself. That's something you guys write about every single year. We won the game, let's focus on that. I really don't give a [expletive] if I score." – Flyers forward Jake Voracek
Play of the Game
Voracek's goal was nice, but his lead pass to Giroux for the fourth goal of the game for the Flyers was perfect. Giroux's shot was perfectly placed as well.
By the Numbers
The Flyers really carried the play at 5-on-5 through the first 30 minutes. Toronto picked things up in the third, with a 54.84 CF% in the final 20 minutes, but the Flyers work through two periods was enough.
Stat of the Game
There are a few we can pull from this one. This was a very physical game, with the Flyers out-hitting the Maple Leafs, 32-29.
The Flyers even-strength scoring has been better this season as well, which is why taking advantage of power play opportunities to be able to add to the offense is important. The Flyers chances on the man-advantage were limited, just one after a delay of game penalty. They cashed in on it.
The Flyers had 30 shots in the game. That's usual for them in 60 minutes, but what wasn't usual was the source of the shots. Of the 30 shots, 20 came from defensemen, with Ivan Provorov and Travis Sanheim tying for the team lead with five each.
