In Toronto, the Maple Leafs took a 4-1 lead in the third period, and then had to hold off the Philadelphia Flyers’ late charge for a 4-3 win in Thursday matinee.
Morgan Frost and Joel Farabee scored for the Flyers in the third period to tighten the match and make the final minutes more interesting.
The Maple Leafs’ Michael Bunting scored 33 seconds into the third period to give Toronto a 3-1 advantage, Auston Matthews provided the primary assist.
“That was a great play, that whole sequence I thought we were hard on the forecheck, switching sides and then things opened up,” Bunting said. “[Nylander] made a great play to [Matthews] and he could have even shot that, but he saw me and I had an easy tap in so that was a great play by both of them.”
William Nylander hit for what seemed to be the sealer, but ended up being the winner for a 4-1 lead.
“We came out kind of slow in the beginning, but then we got going there, got the two big goals (in the second period) and started off hot in the third,” Nylander said. “A little too exciting at the end, but a good way to head into the break.”
Ilya Samsonov made 16 saves in the Toronto win.
“Last couple games, yeah, I [allowed] eight goals,” Samsonov said. “A little bit of a Christmas gift from me, but it’s OK, we got the two points today, so that’s more important for us. We [will] smile tomorrow with a few days off. I’ll just enjoy it and stay with my family and dog.”
The Maple Leafs improved to 21-7-6.
The Flyers were outshot 26-8 through 40 minutes of play.
“It’s not an easy task for a goalie,” Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe said. “I was thinking about it during the game about how we have to do a really good of preventing the big chance because long breaks with no action, and then we saw it in the third period all of a sudden they got two in pretty tight. It’s a tough ask for the goaltender there. I feel for them in that sense, yet I don’t because our team is playing well in front of them, keeping the chances down, the shots down, so they’re going to have to get comfortable in net.”
Tony DeAngelo scored in the first period to give the Flyers a 1-0 lead.
“I thought our offensive guys struggled through a lot of the game,” Philadelphia coach John Tortorella said. “But I thought they came alive towards the end and found a way to make it close.”
Philadelphia dropped to 11-16-7.
“Penalties and just not being able to get pucks behind their defense,” Tortorella said. “We fed their transition, we allowed their top guys to get going on the power play. Our second period was atrocious.”
Toronto tied the game, 1-1, in the second period on a strike by Calle Jarnkrok .
Mitchell Marner scored with 37 seconds left in the middle frame for a 2-1 lead headed to the third, his goal came on the power play..
Toronto survived 61 seconds of a two-skater advantage the Flyers had just ahead of the midway point of the third period, before taking the 4-1 lead.
Farabee ended an 11-game goal drought with his strike.
“It doesn’t really mean much,” Farabee said. “I’d rather not score the rest of the year and win every game then score every game and lose. It’s definitely a little frustrating. I thought we gave a good effort but a couple of mistakes hurt us but it doesn’t really mean much when you don’t win the game.”
Carter Hart made 30 saves in the Flyers loss.
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