There’s not a tonne to be said. It’s put up or shut up. Do or die. Whatever is your preferred hype-up sports cliche.
The Leafs should be able to find an edge with their speed up front versus the slower Philadelphia defence corps. The Flyers boast a potent offense, on the other hand, and have scored 3.3 goals per game since the end of their 15-game start from hell. The Flyers attack with four lines and, as Craig Berube put it, they “compete along the walls, compete in the offensive zone, use everybody to try to wear teams down.” They’ll know to come right after the Leafs D and seal up the walls.
Their top two lines (Hartnell, Giroux, Voracek / McGinn, Schenn, Simmonds) have been productive and Sean Couturier has been a shutdown/two-way force on a line with Matt Read.
This should be a great atmosphere in Philly and a good game, as well. The Flyers have the third most wins on home ice in the East behind only Pittsburgh and Boston. It’s no easy task, but the Leafs made their own bed. The stakes are so high for the Leafs in this game, as a seventh straight regulation loss pretty well means they’ll need to run the board starting with a back to back game against Detroit tomorrow.
