Flyers-Maple Leafs 5 Things: The Auston Matthews Show Comes to Philly

Flyers (24-19-6) vs. Maple Leafs (23-14-9)
7 p.m. on CSN, CSNPhilly.com and the NBC Sports App; Pregame Live at 6:30

The Auston Matthews Show comes to Philadelphia for the first time tonight, as the Flyers welcome the young star and the Toronto Maple Leafs to the Wells Fargo Center.

Both teams enter on the tail end of a back-to-back - the Flyers' 13th and Maple Leafs' 11 - with the Flyers beating the Rangers and Leafs beating Detroit Wednesday. Toronto is 10-8-2 in its first 10 back-to-back situations and 3-6-1 in the second game, while the Flyers are 14-8-2 in their first 12 back-to-backs and 7-3-2 in the second match.

Let's take a closer look at game No. 50 for the orange and black.

1. Money Mase
Despite it being a back-to-back, expect Steve Mason to be back in net for the Flyers tonight. Mason earned his first shutout of the season Wednesday, a 34-save effort.

Mason withstood an offensive onslaught from the Rangers in the first period, turning aside all 16 offerings the Blueshirts sent his way, including a breakaway and several prime scoring chances, that kept the game scoreless after one. Mason bailed out his defense throughout the evening, and stole two points from the Rangers.

"Mase allowed us to get our feet under us," Wayne Simmonds said after the 2-0 win. "The first half of the game wasn't the greatest. Mase stood in there and made some unbelievable saves for us. At the end of the day, it's a good road win for us."

In the Flyers' two New York games, Mason appeared to have gotten back on track after an eight-game stretch in which he allowed 28 goals with a .848 save percentage. Mason stopped 70 of 72 shots he faced against the Islanders and Rangers, and has played with a composure and confidence that's been lacking of late.

2. Carryover effect
After their 3-2 overtime victory over the Islanders on Sunday snapped a nine-game road losing streak and a three-game losing streak, the Flyers displayed a visible sigh of relief. Coach Dave Hakstol said he hoped the win would push the team in the right direction, and that the 64-minute effort would carry over into Wednesday's game vs. the Rangers.

On Wednesday night, the Flyers' first two periods against the Rangers featured the same warts that have plagued them in recent weeks, but Mason held down the fort. Eventually, their confidence started to gain steam in the third period when they finally solved Henrik Lundqvist. When the Flyers got their second goal, the game was over.

With the All-Star break looming and an important two points up for grabs (more below), the Flyers hope their efforts in the last two games can help send them into the break with confidence and perhaps some cushion in the wild-card race.

3. Playoffs?
Maple Leafs head coach Mike Babcock, in his second season behind the bench, has Toronto thinking postseason for just the second time since the 2003-04 season, when the Leafs fell in six games to the Flyers in the Eastern Conference semifinals.

Toronto comes into tonight's matchup with the Flyers third in the Atlantic Division with 55 points after dispatching the Red Wings on Wednesday. Because both the Leafs and Flyers won, the orange and black move into possession of the East's second wild-card spot, an extremely tight race with plenty of season left. The Bruins fall out of the playoff picture temporarily with 54 points - the Flyers own the tiebreaker because of games played. Nine teams are within grasp of the final playoff spot, with the Bruins and Panthers (50) closest and six teams five points behind the Flyers with 49 points.

A major reason behind Toronto's resurgence has been the addition of Matthews, the No. 1 overall pick in last June's NHL draft, and Mitch Marner, the No. 4 overall pick in 2015. Matthews and Marner have provided the Leafs with much-needed star power.

Matthews and Marner lead Toronto with 39 points each, a combined 78 points from a pair of 19-year-olds in their first 46 games. Per The Athletic's James Mirtle, only nine others have accomplished that since 2000, including Sidney Crosby, Alex Ovechkin and Connor McDavid. Matthews scored his rookie-leading 23rd goal Wednesday in Detroit.

While Matthews and Marner have proven to be the real deal, it's not just those two carrying the load in Toronto. Six players have 30 or more points and six have 10 or more goals. The Leafs are a top-six scoring team in the league at 3.09 goals per game.

4. Keep an eye on …
Flyers: Let's highlight the Flyers' lone All-Star, Simmonds, who scored his 20th goal of the season - his 10th power-play tally - Wednesday. Simmonds' 20 goals leads the Flyers, and his 37 points are seven points behind Jakub Voracek for the team lead. In 20 career games against Toronto, Simmonds has eight goals and 14 points.

Maple Leafs: How about former Flyer James van Riemsdyk? van Riemsdyk registered his 17th goal of the season against the Wings on Wednesday, and is third on the Leafs behind Matthews and Nazem Kadri (20) in goals. "JVR" has four goals and 10 points in 10 career games vs. his former team, and his name has recently popped up in trade rumors. Watch van Riemsdyk tonight, but really, keep a close eye on Matthews, too.

5. This and that
• Toronto has an 11-game road point streak, going 9-0-2 for 20 points during that span.

• Mason doesn't have the best career numbers against Toronto, going 4-6-2 in 13 career games with a 3.43 goals-against average and .876 save percentage. He yielded six goals on 23 shots in the Flyers' first matchup with the Leafs this season on Nov. 11.

• Leafs goalie Frederik Andersen is 5-0-0 with 2.71 goals-against average and .917 save percentage in five career games against the Flyers. He's 21-10-8 with a 2.55 goals-against average and .921 save percentage this season, his first in Toronto.

• No Flyers have a plus rating. Matt Read has a minus-1 in 36 games, while Scott Laughton, who has in played two games, leads the team with an even rating.

• The Maple Leafs have the NHL's second-best power play (23.8 percent), and have scored 12 power-play goals over their last 10 games - 12 for 31, 38.7 percent. On top of that, Toronto also has the fourth-best penalty kill at 85.3 percent.