GAMEDAY: Maple Leafs seek to extend dominance over lowly Philadelphia Flyers

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PHILADELPHIA FLYERS (28-35-9) at TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS (42-25-3)

When: Tuesday, 7 p.m., Scotiabank Arena

TV: TSN4 Radio: The Fan 590

Odds: Flyers +170, Maple Leafs -213

The buzz

This just in: The Flyers stink. They have one win in their past 11 games, requiring a shootout to beat Tampa Bay 4-3 on March 13. The Flyers have 10 games remaining and will spend those trying not be caught by the Buffalo Sabres, who reside in the Eastern Conference basement and are three points behind Philadelphia … The Flyers were 30th in the NHL on the power play (13.8%) before games on Monday and they’ve come by that honestly. In their past 12 games, the Flyers have not scored with a man advantage, going 0-for-30 … The Leafs, meanwhile, since March 1 have had the most productive power play in the NHL, clipping along at 40.7% … In 11 meetings between the teams since the 2020-21 COVID season, the Leafs have won 10, including the past five in Toronto. The Flyers have not won at Scotiabank Arena since Nov. 9, 2019, when Sean Couturier scored the deciding goal in a 3-2 shootout final … One of the few reasons that Flyers fans have to get excited about their team’s future is 20-year-old Russian rookie forward Matvei Michkov. With 50 points in 70 games, Michkov is going to get some Calder Trophy votes, but he is unlikely to get enough to upset Lane Hutson or Macklin Celebrini in the race … Leafs defenceman Oliver Ekman-Larsson needs one point for 500 in his NHL career.

The news

Scott Laughton has no points in eight games since the Leafs acquired him from the Flyers on March 7 and he has just six shots on goal. We’ll be curious to see how much his desire to beat his former team carries him on Tuesday night … It’s expected that Anthony Stolarz will get the start in net for the Leafs and he will be looking to build off his most recent game, a 27-save win in New York against the Rangers on Thursday. That ended a string of four consecutive losses for the 31-year-old. “Any time you’re in a little bit of a skid, you want to break out of it,” Stolarz said. “My job is to stop more pucks than the guy at the other end. I liked my game, where I was at the last couple of games. It just boiled down to making that one extra save.” In four career games against Philadelphia, the former Flyer is 2-2 with a .922 save percentage … Based on line rushes at practice on Monday, it appeared that centre David Kampf would be a healthy scratch for the fourth time in six games. But Pontus Holmberg was among the few Leafs who were on the ice for an extended optional morning skate on Tuesday, a sign that he will sit, not Kampf. Holmberg has been in the lineup for every game since Jan. 14 … The Flyers are concluding a five-game trip. They’re 0-3-1 and have been outscored 15-8 … Samuel Ersson will start in goal for Philadelphia.

The quote

“Execution, that’s all. Didn’t like the execution, passing wasn’t very sharp. It got better. It’s just the mindset. Day off (Sunday), a little sleepy, execution is not good.”

— Leafs coach Craig Berube on why he stopped a drill early in practice to angrily drop a few F bombs on the players

The projected Leafs lineup

Forwards

Matthew Knies-Auston Matthews-Mitch Marner

Bobby McMann-John Tavares-William Nylander

Scott Laughton-Max Domi-Nick Robertson

Steven Lorentz-David Kampf-Calle Jarnkrok

Defence

Jake McCabe-Chris Tanev

Morgan Rielly-Brandon Carlo

Simon Benoit-Oliver Ekman-Larsson

Goalies

Anthony Stolarz

Joseph Woll

The injuries

TOR: D Jani Hakanpaa (knee), F Max Pacioretty (undisclosed).

PHI: D Rasmus Ristolainen (upper body), F Garnet Hathaway (upper body).

The prediction

The Leafs flummox the floundering Flyers. 5-1 is the final in favour of Toronto.

tkoshan@postmedia.com

X: @koshtorontosun