![\"Toronto](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/TMC-Z-FlyersLeafs22369-1.jpg\")
Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender Anthony Stolarz stops Philadelphia Flyers\u2019 Noah Cates during first-period action on Monday, March 2, 2026, in Toronto. (Frank Gunn\/The Canadian Press via AP)<\/p>\nThe game plan was right and so was the execution.<\/p>\n
From the start of Monday night\u2019s game in Toronto, the Flyers played a strong defensive game. They were tied 1-1 after two periods.<\/p>\n
Then they went to work in the third period, eventually getting a 3-2 shootout win over the Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena. The Flyers have won three straight games (tying their longest winning streak of the season) and closed the gap for the playoffs to four points.<\/p>\n
The Flyers were playing without the services of leading scorer Travis Konecny, who was scratched Monday night due to an upper-body injury. He\u2019s listed as day-to-day.<\/p>\n
A goal by the Flyers\u2019 Noah Cates broke the tie at 14:42 of the third period but the Leafs tied it on a power-play goal by William Nylander as time was running out.<\/p>\n
The Flyers won the shootout on goals by Matvei Michkov and Trevor Zygras.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s been the key to this three-game streak?<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought the PK [penalty kill]\u00a0 was excellent tonight,\u201d said coach Rick Tocchet, mindful his team had killed off 18 straight power plays before the late tying goal. \u201cI know we gave one up there but when you\u2019re playing these tight games, I guess playoff-style games for us, you\u2019re looking for those big moments. We\u2019re finding them lately.<\/p>\n
\u201cA little more urgency [on the penalty kill]. This is crunch time now. Guys are blocking shots. Really good sticks in the lane.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cates was in the right place at the right time on his go-ahead goal.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re just battling and finding ways to win,\u201d he said. \u201cI think the reset with the break [helped]. We got to practice our systems. Our offensive zone possession, we\u2019re just making those little plays. We took that week and really went to work.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was another strong game for goalie Dan Vladar. He was outstanding in the shootout, stopping two of three Toronto shots.<\/p>\n
\u201cSince the break we haven\u2019t been running around as much,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re patient, sorting out the plays. Makes my job way easier. Credit to them. But we have to keep grinding.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was an evenly played first period with each team scoring a goal.<\/p>\n
Toronto struck first at 15:22. Nick Seeler\u2019s clear attempt didn\u2019t make it out of the corner. Sean Couturier tried to block the shooting lane of Dakota Joshua but actually appeared to block Vladar\u2019s view.<\/p>\n
The Flyers tied it on their third power play of the period. Denver Barkey helped set up Christian Dvorak for a shot through goalie Anthony Stolarz\u2019s pads from close range at 18:38.<\/p>\n
Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender Anthony Stolarz stops Philadelphia Flyers\u2019 Noah Cates during first-period action on Monday, March 2, 2026, in Toronto. (Frank Gunn\/The Canadian Press via AP)<\/p>\n
There\u2019s been slightly more success on the power play of late for the Flyers.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we\u2019ve tried to be more shot-focused, the second half [of the season],\u201d Barkey said in a first intermission televised interview. \u201cJust get pucks to the net. Bank some in that are just lying around.\u201d<\/p>\n
The only real highlight of the second period was a near-goal by Nic Deslauriers. It would have been his first goal since last April but Stolarz came up with the save.<\/p>\n
With Konecny out of action, Owen Tippett played on a line with Dvorak and Trevor Zegras.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust trying to keep it simple,\u201d Tippett said. \u201cThey\u2019re great at supporting and making it easy. Played with them a little earlier in the year. So just trying to get back to that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tocchet-Berube friendly rivals<\/p>\n
Tocchet and Toronto coach Craig Berube go all the way back to the \u201880s when the two played together on the Flyers during some very competitive seasons.<\/p>\n
Since then they\u2019ve coached against each other but they\u2019ve always maintained a good friendship.<\/p>\n
This season is especially special because Berube coached the Flyers some 10 years ago and Tocchet is coaching them now.<\/p>\n
The two squared off for the first time in Toronto as the men behind the bench with Tocchet leading the Flyers.<\/p>\n
Currently, Berube is taking quite a bit of heat because the Leafs are in danger of missing the playoffs for the first time in a decade.<\/p>\n
\u201cCraig is taking some heat out here with how things are going,\u201d Tocchet said in pregame comments. \u201cHe\u2019s a terrific coach. He\u2019s a Stanley Cup winner [St. Louis, 2019].<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen he took over there, they were in last place. It\u2019s his calmness, things like that to make him successful.\u201d<\/p>\n
That said, Berube is highly competitive.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know he might not be calm sometimes, but behind the scenes he is smart guy,\u201d Tocchet said. \u201cAnd it\u2019s like all coaches, we\u2019re always under the gun, and you\u2019ve always got to be ready to tweak certain things.\u201d<\/p>\n
Short shots<\/p>\n
The Flyers return to action on Thursday night when they host the Nashville Predators. \u2026 Deslauriers played in this 700th NHL game and Bobby Brink in his 200th. \u2026 Seeler left the game in the third period with an undisclosed injury. \u201cHopefully it\u2019s nothing major,\u201d Tocchet said.<\/p>\n
Wayne Fish is a freelance writer. Follow his coverage at www.flyingfishhockey.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The game plan was right and so was the execution. From the start of Monday night\u2019s game in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":482566,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5106],"tags":[5,20,5172,4,56,43,5095,66,31,5171],"class_list":{"0":"post-482565","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-toronto-maple-leafs","8":"tag-hockey","9":"tag-maple-leafs","10":"tag-mapleleafs","11":"tag-nhl","12":"tag-philadelphia-flyers","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-top-stories-tmc","15":"tag-toronto","16":"tag-toronto-maple-leafs","17":"tag-torontomapleleafs"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116164886183018005","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482565","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=482565"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482565\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/482566"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=482565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=482565"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=482565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}