Thanks to an overwhelming number of turnovers in their own end, the Flyers fell 3-2 on Tuesday to the Toronto Maple Leafs, and brought an end to their six-game points streak.
Unsurprisingly, the Flyers (20-16-8) nearly found themselves on the wrong end of playing down to their opponent. The Maple Leafs, who entered the game with the second-worst record in the league at 16-20-7, played like a team that was in the thick of a playoff race rather than the thick of a rebuild.
It looked like they had the makings of a 2-1 win over the Flyers, until Shayne Gostisbehere tied the game on a slick end-to-end goal with 7:01 to play. But as the clock began to wind closer and closer to overtime, the Leafs found themselves 3-2, thanks to a Matt Hunwick miracle laser from the point.
In total, the Flyers gave the puck away on 12 occasions, while the Maple Leafs (17-20-7) found themselves with seven takeaways. One of those defensive-zone giveaways nearly led to a goal for Peter Holland in the second period, but a well-advised coach's challenge concluded that the play was actually offside.
The Leafs were able to bring an end to a five-game losing streak. Thanks to a 33-save effort (on 35 shots), James Reimer was able to earn his first win since Nov. 20.
Steve Mason also tuned in a vintage performance, with 30 saves — many of which came immediately off of defensive-zone turnovers. The consistent bailing out of his teammates was the kind of performance that has become typical of Mason throughout his time with the Flyers.
Throughout the first 12 minutes of the first period, the Orange and Black looked like a team dominating the lowly Maple Leafs. They raced out to a domineering 11-2 shots advantage, and a Matt Read power-play goal at 11:06 gave them what appeared to be a 1-0 lead that would stand.
The Leafs, however, were able to catch up. Roman Polak's first of the season tied the game just 2:13 later, and the Leafs were able to cut the shot total to a two-shot deficit. At the end of the first, the Flyers' shot advantage stood at a meager 13-12.
Ex-Flyer Joffrey Lupul also found himself on the scoresheet, as his 10th goal of the season put the Maple Leafs up 2-1 at 15:10 of the second stanza.
Read's goal was the lone goal that the Orange and Black scored on the man-advantage, on three opportunities. Pierre-Edouard Bellemare found himself in the sin bin on three separate occasions — a career-high — but the Flyers were able to kill all three penalties.
Thanks to New Jersey's 4-2 win over Calgary, the Flyers, with 48 points, now find themselves three points out of the second wild card spot. They hit the road Thursday, for the much-awaited first matchup of the season with the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Rob Riches is a contributor to Flyerdelphia and Sports Talk Philly. Follow him on Twitter @Riches61
