Game 73 Preview: Toronto Maple Leafs @ Philadelphia Flyers

Image courtesy of TheStar.blogs.com

Toronto Maple Leafs (36-30-8) @ Philadelphia Flyers (38-27-7), 7:00pm, CSN-Philly/RDS2/SNET-O

Tonight’s game between the Philadelphia Flyers and Toronto Maple Leafs features a pair of teams attempting to snap losing streaks. If Flyers’ fans are worried about the Orange and Black’s postseason hopes after dropping two straight  to the Los Angeles Kings and New York Rangers, try to imagine what Maple Leafs’ fans are feeling with their team’s current six-game slide. When these two slumping clubs meet at the Wells Fargo Center tonight, which one will return to the win column?

After a disheartening 3-1 loss to the Blueshirts at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday, many Flyers’ fans are worried about facing New York in the opening round of the postseason, which seems like a likely matchup. Philly did well in the first period of the loss, but they still found themselves down by a goal after 20 minutes of play. Thanks to a blast from Ryan McDonagh and a soft goal by Steve Mason on a Dominic Moore shot, the Orange and Black found themselves down by three in the third period. Jakub Voracek unleashed a laser past Henrik Lundqvist with under two minutes to play when the game was essentially out of reach. The game did nothing but prove how important home-ice advantage in the postseason is for the Flyers, as they have received good results against the Rangers at home in recent history and horrendous outcomes against the Blueshirts in New York.

As for the Maple Leafs, they dropped their sixth straight contest on Tuesday to the St. Louis Blues by a score of 5-3. It isn’t looking good for Toronto, as several players came out this week saying how they still believe and that there’s belief in the locker room that this team will make the postseason. In addition, the fans and media aren’t handling this poorly-timed losing streak well either, as it got to a point where Dion Phaneuf felt the need to call into a local radio station to defend his play, as well as his teammates’ play. With all this being said, the Leafs have three one-goal losses during the streak and Jonathan Bernier has recently returned to action. Add in the fact that the Maple Leafs will most likely come out playing with a lot of desperation tonight, this game is nowhere near an easy win for the Orange and Black.

Another reason why this won’t be an easy game for the Flyers is the fact they have only grabbed one out of the possible four points they could have grabbed against the Leafs so far this season. After they dropped a 3-1 decision to the Maple Leafs in their season opener, Philly watched former Flyer Joffrey Lupul pot a tally in overtime on March 8th in Toronto for a 4-3 victory for the hosts.

Considering both teams have strong power-play units, this game will most likely come down to special teams and how well the Flyers can dictate play when teams are at even strength. The special teams’ matchup to watch will be the Maple Leafs’ power play, ranked third in the NHL, facing the Flyers’ penalty kill, which is ranked fifth in the league. Philly’s penalty-killing unit prevented the Leafs’ power play from converting in the team’s last meeting, but when you look at how bad the Leafs are at possessing the puck at five-on-five, taking away Toronto’s power play will really limit their scoring chances. As for the Flyers,  the power-play squad isn’t as effective as the Leafs’ man advantage, but they should be able to provide some kind of success against Toronto’s 28th ranked penalty kill.

Looking at the Flyers’ upcoming schedule, tonight’s contest is rather important in the standings for Philly due to how “easy” it is compared to the team’s next four tilts. After tonight, the Flyers host the Boston Bruins on Sunday, visit the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday, host the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday, and close the stretch with a visit to Boston next Saturday. If that wasn’t hard enough, one of the Flyers’ easier games remaining against the Buffalo Sabres on April 6th is the second half of a back-to-back. As for tonight, the Flyers will need to convert on the power play and meet the expectation that they will dominate five-on-five action this evening.

RECORDS
Toronto Maple Leafs
Overall: 36-30-8
Away: 14-16-7
Against the Eastern Conference: 22-20-6
Against the Metropolitan Division: 9-11-3

Philadelphia Flyers
Overall: 38-27-7
Home: 22-13-1
Against the Eastern Conference: 23-17-5
Against the Atlantic Division: 9-7-2

PROJECTED LINEUPS
Toronto Maple Leafs
James van Riemsdyk – Tyler Bozak – Phil Kessel
Mason Raymond – Nazem Kadri – Joffrey Lupul
Nikolai Kulemin – Dave Bolland – David Clarkson
Troy Bodie – Jay McClement – Colton Orr

Carl Gunnarsson – Dion Phaneuf
Cody Franson – Jake Gardiner
Morgan Rielly – Tim Gleason

Jonathan Bernier
James Reimer

Philadelphia Flyers
Scott Hartnell – Claude Giroux – Jakub Voracek
Tye McGinn – Brayden Schenn – Wayne Simmonds
Matt Read – Sean Couturier – Michael Raffl
Zac Rinaldo – Vincent Lecavalier – Adam Hall

Braydon Coburn – Kimmo Timonen
Mark Streit – Nicklas Grossmann
Andrew MacDonald – Luke Schenn

Steve Mason
Ray Emery

TEAM LEADERS
Toronto Maple Leafs
Goals:  Phil Kessel, 36
Assists: Phil Kessel, 41
Points: Phil Kessel, 77
Power-Play Points: Phil Kessel, 20
Plus/Minus: Carl Gunnarsson, plus-14
PIMs: Dion Phaneuf, 109
Average TOI: Dion Phaneuf, 23:51
GAA:  Jonathan Bernier, 2.65
Save Percentage: Jonathan Bernier, .925

Philadelphia Flyers
Goals: Claude Giroux and Wayne Simmonds, 24
Assists: Claude Giroux, 51
Points: Claude Giroux, 75
Power-Play Points: Claude Giroux, 31
Plus/Minus: Scott Hartnell, plus-10
PIMs: Zac Rinaldo, 132
Average TOI: Braydon Coburn, 22:29
GAA: Steve Mason, 2.54
Save Percentage: Steve Mason, .916

INJURIES
Toronto Maple Leafs
Paul Ranger – Stiff neck (out)

Philadelphia Flyers
Steve Downie – Upper-body injury (questionable)

FORMER PLAYERS
Former Flyers in Toronto’s organization
With Toronto: James van Riemsdyk, Joffrey Lupul, Dave Poulin (vice president of hockey operations), Rick St. Croix (goaltending coach), Steve Kasper (director of professional scouting), Daryl Stanley (amateur scout)
With the Toronto Marlies (AHL): Kevin Marshall
With the Orlando Solar Bears (ECHL): Eric Baier (Trenton Titans), Connor Goggin (Trenton Titans), Jacob Cepis (Trenton Titans), Kory Nagy (Trenton Titans), Ian Slater (Adirondack Phantoms), Mike Ullrich (Trenton Titans), Vince Williams (head coach, Trenton Titans), Brad Tapper (assistant coach, Philadelphia Phantoms)

Former Maple Leafs in Philadelphia’s organization
With Philadelphia: Luke Schenn, Hal Gill, Jay Rosehill, Craig Berube (head coach), Jeff Reese (goaltending coach), Mark Greig (amateur scout), Don Luce (pro scout)
With the Adirondack Phantoms (AHL): Carsen Chubak (Orlando Solar Bears), Andrew Johnston (Orlando Solar Bears), Gentry Zollars (Orlando Solar Bears)
With the Greenville Road Warriors (ECHL): NONE