Toronto @ Philadelphia preview

Toronto at Philadelphia

Last Meeting ( Feb 15, 2024 ) Philadelphia 3, Toronto 4

The Philadelphia Flyers will look for a second consecutive win without their head coach when they host the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday.

Flyers associate coach Brad Shaw will stand in again for John Tortorella, who is serving a two-game suspension for refusing to exit the bench after receiving a game misconduct during Philadelphia's 7-0 defeat against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday.

Without Tortorella, the Flyers squeezed past the pesky San Jose Sharks 3-2 on Tuesday.

Philadelphia has alternated wins and losses over its past eight games. Morgan Frost had one goal and one assist on Tuesday, while Joel Farabee and Owen Tippett scored the Flyers' other goals.

"I thought we were maybe a little bit lackadaisical in the first period, and I thought that was a good wake-up call for us," Frost said. "Thought the second was a little bit better and the third was probably our best. I think every game is so important, you can't take any games off. Doesn't matter how you get it done, just get the two points."

Tippett's goal at 5:09 of the third period wound up being the game-winner. Tippett skated to the far post, received a crisp pass from Travis Konecny and connected with a beautiful one-timer.

After allowing four goals on 15 shots vs. the Lightning, Philadelphia goaltender Samuel Ersson responded with a 27-save performance against the Sharks.

"That's the nice thing about being a goalie: You get to impact the game in a big way," Ersson said. "That's what you want, you want to have those moments come at you, and you want to come out with a big save. That's the most fun part about being a goalie."

The Maple Leafs are in a similar pattern as the Flyers, having alternated wins and losses for five games.

Toronto fell twice to the Boston Bruins in between wins over the New York Rangers, Buffalo Sabres and Montreal Canadiens. Most recently, the Maple Leafs defeated the host Canadiens 3-2 on Saturday.

John Tavares scored the go-ahead goal at 13:14 of the third period.

"They came out with a lot of jump, a lot of energy," Tavares said. "They got the start they wanted, certainly not what we wanted, but I liked how we just stayed with it. You know, offensively, it hasn't been the greatest week for us.

"Things haven't been clicking as well as we'd like, but I just like the way we stayed with it and found a way to earn the opportunities that we got and made the most of them."

Maple Leafs goaltender Ilya Samsonov made 29 saves while Max Domi logged a goal and an assist.

"First of all, a lot of credit to the Habs," Domi said. "They came out flying and I don't think we were at the best of our game early on, but we found a way to stick with it. (Samsonov) was great, the PK was great tonight and we capitalized on our chances tonight. A lot of resilience tonight, showed a lot of character, it was a huge win."

Toronto forward Mitch Marner missed the game with a lower-body injury. It was unclear if Marner would be available to oppose the Flyers. With Marner sidelined, the Maple Leafs recalled Nick Robertson from the AHL.

--Field Level Media