National Hockey League
Toronto 6, Philadelphia 3
When: 7:00 PM ET, Friday, November 11, 2016
Where: Air Canada Centre, Toronto, Ontario
Referees: Jake Brenk, Mike Leggo
Linesmen: Derek Amell, Brad Kovachik
Attendance: 19189

TORONTO -- The Toronto Maple Leafs started fast on Friday night, then let the Philadelphia Flyers make their run.

The Maple Leafs, however, showed again that it's how you finish that counts and they finished strong with four unanswered goals in the third period to earn a 6-3 victory over the Flyers.

Zach Hyman scored the go-ahead goal in the third period and the Maple Leafs were on their way.

Leo Komarov added an unassisted short-handed goal at 11:32 of the third period to give Toronto a two-goal cushion and Mitch Marner scored on a power play late in the game.

Nazem Kadri, Morgan Rielly and Martin Marincin also scored for the Maple Leafs (6-5-3). Rielly added three assists for the first four-point game of his career.

"It's nice," Rielly said. "I think the most important thing is we went into that third period and battled and found our game. We got a big win. Like I said this morning, we weren't happy after Tuesday (a 7-0 loss to the Los Angeles Kings). We didn't have a very good taste in our mouth leaving the rink so we're happy to bounce back and play a strong game."

"We turned a pretty good two-period effort into a poor outcome," Flyers coach Dave Hakstol said. "We've got to finish and we didn't. We had two pretty solid road periods, we didn't finish, bottom line."

Wayne Simmonds scored twice and Travis Konecny added one goal for the Flyers (6-7-2)

The Flyers have had problems giving up goals this season, a total of 57 in 15 games.

"We talk about it a lot," Simmonds said. "We have to be better, plain and simple," Simmonds said. "We gave up four unanswered goals."

Steve Mason, starting his second straight game in the Flyers' goal, made 17 saves.

"We didn't give Mase whole lot of easy saves," Hakstol said. "Especially when you look at the third period with some second and third opportunities."

"The last (goal) I wasn't happy with," Mason said. "Realistically everything is stoppable. The third period wasn't good. We had an opportunity to win a hockey game and we let it get away."

Frederik Andersen made 30 saves in the Toronto goal.

"We didn't think we played that poorly and we found ourselves behind," Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock said. "I thought we were tight for a bit there in the second period and we refused to shoot the puck and so we ended up spending too much time in our own zone.

"I think once we got shooting the puck things went better for us."

The Flyers took a 3-2 lead into the third period and tied the score at 3 when Marincin wired a shot from the point for his first goal of the season. Rielly and Kadri got assists.

Toronto took a 4-3 lead at 8:34 of the third period after several chances around the Philadelphia net. Hyman finished the play with his first goal of the season.

Komarov scored his first goal of the season on a breakaway with Toronto defenseman Roman Polak serving a slashing penalty.

Marner scored his fifth of the season at 15:21 of the third.

"We played our game tonight," Marner said. "We were playing heavy, we were forechecking very hard and we got the results for it."

The Maple Leafs led 1-0 when Kadri scored his seventh goal of the season at 2:54 of the first period after being allowed to break in alone through the slot.

The Flyers responded at 3:59 with Simmonds' first goal of the game, a tip-in of a shot by Claude Giroux on a power play, eight seconds after Toronto left winger James van Riemsdyk was penalized for tripping.

Philadelphia took a 2-1 lead on the fourth goal of the season by Konecny on a backhand shot at 4:25 after he outfought Toronto defenseman Connor Carrick for the puck in the slot.

The Maple Leafs tied the score 2-2 at 19:08 of the first period when they had a two-man advantage. Sean Couturier took a tripping penalty at 18:16 and nine seconds later, Chris VandeVelde was sent off for delay of game when he put the puck over the glass. Rielly tied the score at 2 at 19:08 with

his first goal of the season.

The Flyers regained the lead at 3-2 on the second goal of the game and eighth of the season by Simmonds, who scored a short-handed goal on a breakaway at 2:53 of the second period with an assist by Couturier.

Philadelphia defenseman Mark Streit was serving a tripping penalty.

NOTES: The Flyers recalled LW Roman Lyubimov from Lehigh Valley of the AHL. ... The game Friday was the first of three between the teams. Toronto will visit Philadelphia on Jan. 26, with the season finale between the teams on March 9 at the Air Canada Centre. ... Flyers RW Jakub Voracek had his 300th NHL assist in the 3-2 shootout loss to the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday. ... C Eric Lindros, who played eight seasons with the Flyers, and the late Pat Quinn, who was the fifth coach of the Flyers (1979-82) will be inducted Monday into the Hockey Hall of Fame. ... The Maple Leafs will visit the Pittsburgh Penguins for a game on Saturday while Philadelphia returns home to play the Minnesota Wild on Saturday.
Top Game Performances
 
Philadelphia   Toronto
Wayne Simmonds 2 Points Morgan Rielly 4
Wayne Simmonds 2 Goals Morgan Rielly 1
Sean Couturier 1 Assists Morgan Rielly 3
Wayne Simmonds 1 Power Play Goals Morgan Rielly 1
Wayne Simmonds 1 Short Handed Goals Leo Komarov 1
Steve Mason .739 Save Percentage Frederik Andersen .909
Steve Mason 17 Saves Frederik Andersen 30
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Shots Goals Power Play Penalty Kill Penalty Mins Face Offs Won
Philadelphia 33 3 1-2 3-5 10 23
Toronto 23 6 2-5 1-2 4 32
Upcoming Games
  • Toronto will play their next game on the road against Pittsburgh. The Maple Leafs have a W/L % of .400 after a win and .444 after a loss.
  • Philadelphia will play their next game at home against Minnesota. The Flyers have a W/L % of .333 after a win and .444 after a loss.