Matvei Michkov and Trevor Zegras each scored in the shootout for Philadelphia after William Nylander’s power-play goal for Toronto tied it 2-2 with 2:30 left in the third period. He scored on a one-timer off a pass from John Tavares at the left face-off dot past Dan Vladar’s blocker.
It was the first power-play goal allowed by the Flyers since Jan. 26, a span of eight games during which they were 15-for-15 on the penalty kill.
“I think assistant coach Todd Reirden has done a real good job,” Philadelphia coach Rick Tocchet said. “He’s really taught it a little different way and there’s been a little more urgency from the guys. It’s crunch time now, so guys are blocking shots. We had really good sticks in the lane. They have some dangerous guys over there.”
Christian Dvorak scored for the Flyers (28-21-11), who have won three in a row for the first time since Nov. 26-29 and four of six (4-1-1) overall. Vladar made 29 saves before stopping two of the three shots he faced in the shootout.
“It’s two desperate teams,” Dvorak said. “Both teams needed a win bad, so it was going to be a low scoring, tight game. So we just had to stick with it. We had a good start in the first, they had a good push in the second, but I thought we had a pretty solid response in the third and then found a way to win in free hockey, so it was a big one.”
Dakota Joshua scored, and Anthony Stolarz made 23 saves for the Maple Leafs (27-24-10), who have lost four straight (0-3-1) and 10 of their past 13 (3-8-2).
“Good battle by our group tonight,” Toronto coach Craig Berube said. “Really good second period. We had a lot of opportunities, we didn’t capitalize on them, but I thought our game was good all-around. Penalties in the first period kind of set us back a little bit, but overall, I thought the team competed hard, played good defense, did a lot of good things. We just didn’t finish.”
Joshua gave Toronto a 1-0 lead at 15:22 of the first period when he took a pass from Matias Maccelli and shot around Sean Couturier from the left face-off dot. It was the first goal since Dec. 16 for Joshua, who missed 20 games with a lacerated kidney he sustained on Dec. 28 before returning on Feb. 26.
“That was nice,” Joshua said. “It’s been a while, but makes the hard days of recovery and coming back worth it when you can get one. It takes a little bit of time, but I feel like I’m getting better every game, so it’s a positive.”
Dvorak tied it 1-1 on the power play at 18:38, jamming a loose puck between Stolarz’s pads at the top of the goal crease.
“We’re just playing our brand, smart hockey,” Dvorak said. “It’s hard to do it for 60 minutes. We still have to work on that, but that’s how you are going to win hockey games at this time of year. It’s going to be greasy goals and close games the rest of the way, so you just have to get gutsy and find ways to win.”
