The Philadelphia Flyers will continue to battle through a rigorous schedule with the hopes of landing a playoff berth in what was expected to be a rebuilding season.
The path to the postseason won’t get any easier when the Flyers host the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday.
Philadelphia (34-26-8, 76 points) dropped its last two games — 6-2 to the Maple Leafs on Thursday and 6-5 to the Boston Bruins on Saturday.
Joel Farabee scored two goals and Owen Tippett had three assists in the one-goal loss to the Bruins.
“We self-inflict sometimes, and we’re just not deep enough right now. … I thought we had a lot of good minutes. I thought we had patience to our game,” Flyers coach John Tortorella said. “We just couldn’t sustain it for the full 60.”
Moral victories don’t count, but the Flyers trailed 5-2 and then scored twice. They never stopped battling.
“It kind of is what it is, but we got to figure it out,” Morgan Frost said. “I think we keep putting ourselves in good position, and (we’ve) just got to find that break late in the game to kind of seal it. And I’m going to keep saying, I thought we played a pretty good game, so it’s a tough one to swallow.”
Farabee now has a career-best 21 goals. It would have meant more with a victory over the Maple Leafs.
“They’re probably one of the best teams in the league,” Farabee said of the Bruins. “So, definitely gives us a little bit of confidence knowing we can come back in those games.”
The Maple Leafs will arrive in Philadelphia following a 5-4 shootout loss to the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday. John Tavares had one goal and one assist and Morgan Rielly added two assists for the Maple Leafs (38-19-9, 85 points).
Goaltender Ilya Samsonov made 36 saves, including a number of stellar stops that gave the Maple Leafs a good chance to come out on top. He had won 10 of his past 11 starts.
“It’s tough. We don’t have time to think about this because a lot of more games are coming,” Samsonov said. “We play against Philadelphia and Washington back-to-back this week. Just forget about today and focus for the next game.”
The normally electric Toronto power play went 0-for-4 against the Hurricanes.
“We’re just not as crisp as we usually are,” Tavares said. “Just seems like our passes may not be in the right spot or just a little bit on edge. Fanning on some shots, getting some stuff blocked as we’re trying to get it to the net. Whether that’s double-clutching a little bit, just trying to make the right read, we just got to be a little bit quicker and a little more crisp.”
Added coach Sheldon Keefe: “The results are not there and it didn’t go in, but against a team that gives up almost nothing on the penalty kill, I thought we generated a fair bit. There’s some progress that we have to shake through, but with all that said, you have to find a way.”
–Field Level Media
