Toronto Maple Leafs Vs. Philadelphia Flyers
2/11/13 Rob’s Free NHL Hockey Pick
The Philadelpha Flyers travel to the Air Canada Centre to take on the Toronto Maple Leafs on Monday night.
It was a very successful trip to the Bell Centre on Saturday night when the Leafs took on the Montreal Canadiens. They got contributions from throughout the entire lineup and their goaltender was on his game from the drop of the puck. Leo Komarov got Toronto on the board in the first period with his first goal and the Maple Leafs doubled their lead on Tyler Bozak's fourth of the season. In the second period Montreal would find their game a little bit and really control the things, but it didn't matter because of how well James Reimer played in goal. Reimer faced 20 shots from the Canadiens in the second period alone but he stopped all of them and allowed the Maple Leafs to capitalize on their minimal chances. James van Riemsdyk scored his seventh goal of the season and Phil Kessel added his second of the year on the power play as Toronto increased their lead to 4-0 despite just eight second period shots. Korbinian Holzer and Dion Phaneuf would finish the scoring and Reimer would stop all 37 shots he faced as Toronto posted a 6-0 shutout of their rivals. It's a huge lift for a team like the Leafs to get strong goaltending and secondary scoring. It's a recipe for success for just about any team in the league but you can really see the difference when a team like Toronto gets it. Now they'll have to follow that performance up against a Philadelphia Flyers club that might be getting their game together now.
The Flyers have now won three of their last four games after Saturday afternoon's 4-3 overtime victory over the Carolina Hurricanes. Philadelphia fell behind just 17 seconds into the game but they answered back before the end of the first period on Brayden Schenn's second goal of the season. Early in the second period it was Matt Read who capitalized on a Carolina turnover and beat Cam Ward up high to give the Flyers a 2-1 lead. Carolina would tie the game later in the period but the Flyers would answer right back on a goal by Jakub Voracek that came just 15 seconds later. The Flyers struggled to put the Hurricanes away and it came back to bite them in the third period when Joe Corvo tied things up midway through the period. The game would remain tied into overtime but Danny Briere would take the puck to the center of the ice and wrist one off the left post that deflected off Ward's skate and into the back of the net to secure the Philadelphia win. Ilya Bryzgalov picked up the victory making 30 saves on 33 shots. Schenn finished the game with a goal and two assists.
Philadelphia is 5-0 the last five between these two teams overall and 5-0 their last five visits to Toronto. The Under is 6-1-1 the last eight meetings. The road team is 5-2 the last seven.
Rob’s Pick: Toronto