Flyers lose 6th straight, could be ping-ponging into NHL's bottom three originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
The Flyers matched their third-worst losing streak of the season with a 5-2 loss to the Maple Leafs on Tuesday night at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto.
In a season full of skids, the club is, rather fittingly, skidding to the finish line. The Flyers have lost six straight, a stretch in which they've been outscored 32-13.
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Their 2021-22 résumé has taken a beating. Enduring one of their worst seasons in franchise history, the Flyers (23-43-11) have racked up separate losing streaks of 13 games (0-10-3) from Dec. 30 to Jan. 25, 10 games (0-8-2) through Nov. 18 to Dec. 8 and six games (0-4-2) during Feb. 9-22.
Mike Yeo's club is 0-6-0 on its current six-gamer. Yeo, no slouch in the experience department, is 15-33-7 in his interim duties. The 48-year-old coach has been dealt a ridiculously tough hand in this spot.
On Tuesday night, James van Riemsdyk, the lone Flyer to play in all 77 games, scored his 21st goal of the season. Rookie defenseman Ronnie Attard netted the Flyers' other marker with the second of his career.
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The Maple Leafs (51-20-6) swept the three-game regular-season series from the Flyers, outscoring them 14-5.
Auston Matthews, the NHL leader in goals with 58, was out because of an undisclosed injury. It didn't matter as 13 different players recorded at least one point for Toronto.
• The Flyers have lost 48 of their last 63 games (15-39-9), plummeting into the bottom four of the NHL standings.
They're on the verge of sliding into the bottom three, which of course would only help their 2022 NHL draft lottery chances. The Flyers are only one point ahead of the expansion Kraken, who have two games in hand. Seattle is 30th in the league's 32-team standings.
The Flyers have five games left on their schedule and face the 31st-ranked Canadiens next.
• The Flyers' league-worst power play went 0 for 3 and is 13 for 134 (9.7 percent) since the calendar turned to 2022.
Their penalty kill unit finished 4 for 5, allowing a go-ahead goal to William Nylander with 6:21 minutes left in the second period.
Six minutes later, the Flyers surrendered a backbreaking goal in oh-no fashion. Keith Yandle tripped in coverage on Wayne Simmonds and Toronto capitalized to cushion its lead to 3-1, courtesy of Jason Spezza.
Yandle assisted van Riemsdyk's game-tying 1-1 goal but his defensive mishap was really costly and ill-timed. With under 30 seconds left in the second period, the offensively-challenged Flyers needed to keep it a one-goal game.
In their six-game losing streak, the Flyers have been outscored 16-3 in the middle stanza.
• Martin Jones, who has been in net for the Flyers' last three wins, converted 24 saves on 28 shots.
The Maple Leafs came in scoring the NHL's second-most goals per game at 3.86.
Ilya Mikheyev finished things off for Toronto with an empty-netter.
Early in the second period, the Maple Leafs opened the game's scoring as the Flyers had a breakdown in coverage. They didn't identify defenseman Timothy Liljegren, who received a pass and fired one past Jones.
Toronto netminder Jack Campbell stopped 37 of the Flyers' 39 shots.
• Regarded for his big shot, Attard showed it off late in the third period to draw the Flyers within 4-2.
• For the Flyers, Carter Hart (lower body), Cam Atkinson (lower body), Rasmus Ristolainen (upper body), Cam York (lower body), Patrick Brown (upper body) and Nick Seeler (lower body) all remained out.
Kevin Connauton joined the group as he exited during the third period with a lower-body injury.
• The Flyers head to Montreal for a matchup Thursday against the Canadiens (7 p.m. ET/NBCSP).
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