TLN Postgame: It’s always Sunny to lose to Philadelphia

Tonight, the Leafs hosted the Philadelphia Flyers in a nine-goal, torrid affair.

Picking up one more point than management probably would’ve appreciated as they fell in 5-4 overtime, the Leafs continued the trend of a decent possession game met with an L on the scoresheet. 

To be honest, this was about as even a hockey game as there gets. After a quick opening goal by trade-bait Shawn Matthias just 1:29 into the game, the Leafs surrendered three straight to the Flyers from Sam Gagner, Jakub Voracek and Brayden Schenn. Brayden Schenn has 18 goals this season. Voracek and Gagner have 13 combined.

The Leafs answered the Flyers with three goals of their own in a row, coming from Nick Spaling, Peter Holland and Byron Froese to take a 4-3 lead.

In true Leafs fashion, they coughed it up with a Matt Read goal that sent the game into overtime.

Headline-grabber Shayne Gostisbehere decided to show up in overtime and score the winning goal, to extend his point streak to 15 games, unprecedented for a rookie blueliner.

 

Both teams even used two goalies! Not very well though.

Ultimately, somewhat had to win this game. But it was even af, tbh. The puck luck and the hockey gods just turned in Philly’s favour. 

Colin Greening led the team in Corsi % at even strength when he’s considered by some teams as not an NHL-level talent. Perhaps he’ll find himself moved again before his contract with Toronto expires, and he’s been playing solidly enough to do so while in the blue and white.

The Leafs play the Ryan Johansen-led Predators on Tuesday night.