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Toronto had a familiar start to the game, as they were even in chances early, but managed a pair of goals to take the lead.

Things took a quick turn for the worse after that, as Philadelphia dominated the last twelve minutes of the period, winning the chances 9-2 and scoring three goals, leaving the Leafs somewhat fortunate to be tied after the first twenty minutes. Despite giving up two goals, the Leafs were actually fine at ES in the second period, with Philadelphia getting most of its chances with the extra man. The third was the real disappointment, as the Flyers had eight of the first ten chances and extended the lead to four, at a time when the Leafs should have been chasing the lead.

StatusOverallEven StrengthES Close
TeamTORPHI%TORPHI%TORPHI%
161233.3%41225.0%3925.0%
271335.0%5455.6%4357.1%
35838.5%4833.3%00-
Total183335.3%132435.1%71236.8%

The second period was pretty solid for Toronto, though the penalty killing unit had a tough frame. The chance numbers for tonight aren’t much worse than for games like Anaheim or LA, but in those games, Bernier was able to keep the Leafs ahead; tonight, when he had a sub-par game, the scoreboard got ugly.

ClubStPTimeTScOscNoteTorontoPhiladelphia
PHIES118:2700Umburger wraparound42811912464514182455529
PHIES118:2500Umburger from rebound42811912464514182455529
TORES115:4300Van Riemsdyk post from Kadri254321344514249355529
TORES115:0900GOAL! Lupul from Rielly42811944554514182483229
TORPP114:2010GOAL! Van Riemsdyk deflects Franson shot4281213445142455529-
PHIES114:0320Voracek from Giroux2543213445289312224729
TORES113:1720Kadri from Polak254321124645364078224729
PHIES111:4720Couturier from Read42811934445141824224729
PHIES111:4620GOAL! Umburger from rebound of Couturier shot42811934445141824224729
PHIES108:4221GOAL! Couturier from Read42811912554514182483229
PHIES108:1632GOAL! Giroux from Voracek254321344528931255529
PHIES108:0033Laughton deflects Simmonds shot242671445545101749224729
PHIES107:5833Schenn from rebound of Laughton shot242671445545101749224729
PHIES106:3433Bellemare drives231820445545364078224729
PHIES105:2733Voracek deflects Giroux shot42811912464514182483229
TORES103:3733Van Riemsdyk deflects Rielly shot wide247121445545101749224729
PHIES101:4333Schenn wide from Lecavalier231820124645104078224729
TORPP100:1233Bozak from rebound of Kessel shot428121344514245829-
TORPP219:2233Franson wide from Phaneuf428121344514245829-
TORES218:3533Lupul from Clarkson431971124445104922475529
TORES218:3333Clarkson from rebound of Lupul shot431971124445104922475529
TORES218:3233Kadri wide from rebound of Clarkson shot431971124445104922475529
PHISH212:2734Schenn from Giroux264234645-101728933229
PHISH211:5434Voracek from Streit242634645-101728933229
PHISH211:4534Simmonds deflects Voracek shot242634645-101728933229
PHISH211:2934Lecavalier post from Couturier422141245-141840244729
TORSH211:2234Bozak from Van Riemsdyk422141245-141840244729
PHISH210:4634Simmonds drives252634645-101728933229
PHIES209:1134Voracek from faceoff43811912464528931283229
PHIES207:5934Laughton wide from Schenn242671124645101749224729
PHISH206:5434Schenn deflects Streit shot wide262134645-101728933229
PHISH206:4634Giroux wide from Streit262134645-101728933229
PHISH206:1634Schenn from Simmonds262134645-101728933229
PHISH205:5334Lecavalier from Umburger2526125545-184024475529
TORES205:3234Holland drives24252644445184024475529
PHIES203:5734GOAL! Giroux from Voracek438119445545289349223229
TORES203:2035Booth from loose puck231820124645101778224729
PHIES201:0435Schultz from Voracek2426713445289312325529
TOREN319:2435Santorelli from loose puck2526434124518281283229
PHIEN318:3235Laughton wide from Schenn241971124645101749224729
TOREN317:5735Van Riemsdyk from Bozak42812144554514182483229
PHIES314:1335GOAL! Laughton from Voracek431934645-934955529-
PHIES314:0636Laughton drives247144445-124955529-
PHIES313:4936Coburn from Raffl247144445-124955529-
PHIES311:2836Bellemare from Lecavalier2642813445104078224729
PHIES310:2836GOAL! Raffl from Simmonds2526433445172812224729
PHIES309:1937Bellemare from Lecavalier241971124634401278324729
PHIES307:5137Giroux wide from Voracek252643343428931283229
TORES306:1137GOAL! Holland drives241971445534401278325529
TORES305:5247Booth from loose puck231820445534141824224729
TORPP300:0447Clarkson wraparound431971124434181282229-

Player-by Player data:

PlayerOverallEven StrengthES Close
ForAgainstDiffTOIForAgainstDiffTOIForAgainstDiff
Phaneuf416-1221:2719-816:01110
Franson79-218:1338-515:04211
Robidas811-322:1869-318:5437-4
Panik22010:3022010:3002-2
Lupul611-515:20511-613:3546-2
Booth22010:0922010:0902-2
Van Riemsdyk86218:3342213:58211
Smith22010:0722010:0702-2
Holland310-714:5938-513:4123-1
Santorelli46-214:4244013:42211
Winnik215-1317:1027-513:1513-2
Bozak69-314:3627-511:0014-3
Kadri77017:4267-115:57431
Rielly108220:1798118:28642
Polak216-1422:0729-718:3606-6
Holzer56-115:3855015:0325-3
Clarkson68-214:1358-312:28431
Kessel59-415:5929-713:2716-5
Bernier1531-1649:321122-1141:44712-5
Reimer32110:2822009:19000

The Leafs started with new top lines, Joffrey Lupul replacing JVR with Bozak and Kessel. It was an unsuccessful attempt, as Kessel and Bozak were both really poor, generating few offensive chances. Kessel was the worst forward at ES Close, on for only a single chance, and a -5. Lupul, once he was moved off that line, did produce some offense, but had terrible defensive numbers, on for more ES chances against than any other Leaf player. The strongest night up front was from Nazem Kadri, who got the toughest zone starts on the team, and yet was one of few forwards finishing in the positive in ES Close chances. James Van Riemsdyk, who started with Kadri, was one of the other positive players, along with Mike Santorelli. Peter Holland and David Clarkson had bad defensive numbers in the third, though they were decent at ES Close.

Korbinian Holzer came in for Jake Gardiner, and in fairly soft minutes he put up a -3 at ES Close, though he did better in the third. Morgan Rielly, also given fairly soft minutes, was the best player in ES Chances, and on for more Leaf chances than any other player, a strong game. Phaneuf and Franson had quiet, even nights at ES Close, but were terrible in the third period, both getting badly out-chanced. Roman Polak, unsurprisingly, was buried in starts by Carlyle, and ended up with ugly numbers, the team’s worse. Again, that’s heavily down to usage, but -6 ES Close is bad regardless of how Polak was used. Stephane Robidas, paired with Polak, also had a tough night, and I continue to wonder if Carlyle will sit him at some point, as he certainly hasn’t been much better than Gardiner.

Cumulative numbers this season:

StatusOverallEven StrengthES Close
TeamTORPHI%TORPHI%TORPHI%
161233.3%41225.0%3925.0%
271335.0%5455.6%4357.1%
35838.5%4833.3%00-
Total183335.3%132435.1%71236.8%

The Leafs’ issues at centre are pretty clear, with Bozak and Holland now ahead of only David Booth among forwards at ES Close.