Deja vu. There’s an expression the Philadelphia Flyers (34-26-8) will want to avoid as they host the Toronto Maple Leafs (38-19-9) for the second time in five days.
That started the seven-game gauntlet. Facing the best of the NHL Eastern Conference in this stretch, a beat-up Flyers roster is 0-2-0. The Maple Leafs ran through Sam Ersson and Felix Sandstrom en route to a win, 6-2.
“It’s always about what we need to do and how we need to play. [In] the last two games, we’ve done some positive things. There’s no doubt; Boston, we scored a lot of goals. We’ve made mistakes; every team does. We got to learn from those things, but we’ve done some good things in the last couple of games. We got to find a way to push forward and push through that barrier right now in order to grind out some points.”
Rocky Thompson; 3/19/2024
Philadelphia painted themselves into a corner in a must-win with the Washington Capitals a point behind them in the NHL Metropolitan Division race for third place.
Toronto Maple Leafs
Sheldon Keefe knows Sean Couturier will be a healthy scratch. That favors Toronto, but the Flyers are battling for their postseason fate:
“Their team [the Philadelphia Flyers], like a lot of us, are playing to qualify for the playoffs, and things are getting tight. For that reason, and they’re a proud team; coming off a loss in Boston and a loss against us, they’re going to play well, play hard, and I fully expect a response.”
Sheldon Keefe; 3/19/2024
Morgan Rielly notched primary assists to William Nylander and David Kampf in a shootout loss versus the Carolina Hurricanes. He was dangerous in four-on-four and powerplay situations versus the Hurricanes, missing a high-danger scoring chance wide of the net. Rielly also recorded two hits and blocked a couple of shots on goal. Recently, against Philadelphia, Rielly tallied a secondary assist on a Pontus Holmberg goal. Rielly traded hits with Garnet Hathaway, who tied Erik Johnson with six hits in the Flyers’ lineup.
Here’s the tentative lineup for the Toronto Maple Leafs, per Mark Masters:
Bertuzzi-Matthews-Holmberg
McMann-Domi-Nylander
Knies-Tavares-Robertson
Dewar-Kampf-Reaves
Rielly-Brodie
Benoit-McCabe
Edmundson-Liljegren
Samsonov
(Woll)
Philadelphia Flyers
John Tortorella stuck to his guns about skaters receiving a drop or uptick in minutes throughout the season. He scratched new skaters from after the NHL Trade Deadline (Denis Gurianov), tried-and-true veterans (Cam Atkinson), younger skaters (Bobby Brink), and now a leader (Couturier):
“I think him [Couturier], Cam [Atkinson]; a number of guys need to play better. It’s the ol’ chicken and the egg; give me more ice time [and] I’ll show you. I’ve given people plenty of ice time, and the people that I have slotted and given more minutes as we’ve gone through here, I think deserve it.”
John Tortorella; 3/18/2024
Owen Tippett collected three assists against the Boston Bruins, two on goals by Joel Farabee and another to Morgan Frost. Despite the loss, Tippett was active with a couple of hits, but the Bruins blocked five of his shot attempts. Previously, versus the Maple Leafs, Tippett scored a powerplay goal and forced a takeaway, but was on the receiving end of a few hits. Ironically, Philadelphia only scored on special teams, including a shorthanded goal from Tyson Foerster.
Here’s the tentative lineup for the Philadelphia Flyers:
Tippett-Frost-Konecny
Farabee-Laughton-Brink
Foerster-Poehling-Hathaway
Deslauriers-Cates-Lycksell
York-Sanheim
Zamula-Johnson
Ginning-Attard
Ersson
(Sandstrom)
Place Your Bets (via DraftKings Sportsbook)
Toronto Maple Leafs moneyline (-135)
Philadelphia Flyers moneyline (+114)
Morgan Reilly over .5pt (-110)
Owen Tippett over .5pt (-125)
Game Information
Watch the Philadelphia Flyers host the Toronto Maple Leafs on NBC Sports Philadelphia. Listen to the radio broadcast on 97.5 The Fanatic. The puck drops at 7pm.
(AP Photo/Derik Hamilton)
