Philadelphia Flyers Hope for the Playoffs Alive after Win Over Toronto

The Philadelphia Flyers have managed to keep their playoff hopes alive after defeating the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday night, at least for now.

The Flyers can thank Sean Couturier for keeping those hopes going after he scored during a shootout after both failed to score during overtime. The goal gave the Flyers the win and hope the impossible may be realised. Also scoring for Philadelphia was Radko Gudas, Ryan Hartman and Travis Konecny. Philadelphia’s Corban Knight, Scott Laughton and Travis Sanheim each earned two assists, and goalie Carter Hart stopped 38 shots.

The Philadelphia Flyers now have closed the gap to eight points behind Montreal, who seem to be faltering in the final regulation games, and the chance at the final Eastern Conference playoff spot. Sports punters anticipating the pending playoffs will find preferred canadian bookmakers alert to the sudden push from Philadelphia with expected promotions soon to be released for the post-season. Commenting on the win, Sean Couturier said,

“Whatever it is, the situation, I think everyone has pride in here. We want to win games. It’s a lot more fun to win. Whatever happens here down the stretch we need to finish strong and build something here. Just push on in the same direction.”

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Toronto’s William Nylander, Nazem Kadri, Connor Brown and Auston Matthews scored and assists were awarded to Connor Brown, Auston Matthews, Tyler Ennis, and Frederik Gauthier. Frederik Andersen has 38 saves for the night.

As the game went to the shootout stage, both teams missed their first four shots, however, on their fifth, Coutier outmanoeuvred Andersen and scored. Toronto’s last attempt by Nylander failed to get past Hart earning Philadelphia a 5-4 victory. The win was Harts third in eight games, it was also his first tiebreaker in his rookie year managing to stop all five shots by the Maple Leafs.

The Flyers appeared to have won the game after scoring early into overtime after Travis Sanheim pushed the puck past the goal line. However, this was disallowed as the whistle has been blown. Commenting on how the Flyers played, Scott Gordon, interim coach for Philadelphia said,

“There’s got to be an element of character that always comes to the forefront, and I’d like to think that’s how we’ll finish out the season.”

Philadelphia led in the third period 4-3 after scoring at the 9 minute mark before Nylander responded with one of his own several minutes later to once again tie the game. The Toronto led going into the second by two goals. However, the Flyers not only scored two goals to tie the game but went ahead by one in the second. That was not lost on coach Mike Babcock, who commented that,

“I was disappointed in our second period. I thought we let ourselves down with that. There’s no reason to be careless with the puck and not take care of it, there’s just no reason, especially for a team that’s trying to do what we’re trying to do.”

The Toronto Maple Leafs will visit the Ottawa Senators on Saturday before closing out the regular season with stops in New York, Carolina and Tampa. Montreal will hit the road for a single stop against Carolina, then return home to welcome the New York Rangers on Sunday.