Returning home from a five-game road trip, John Tortorella's Philadelphia Flyers (17-18-5) rematch on Tuesday with Craig Berube's Toronto Maple Leafs (26-13-2). Game time at Wells Fargo Center is 7:30 p.m. EST.
The game will be streamed on ESPN+ and Hulu. The radio broadcast is on 97.5 The Fanatic with an online simulcast on Flyers Radio 24/7.
On Sunday in Toronto, the Flyers settled for one point in a 3-2 overtime loss. Tyson Foerster and Scott Laughton scored for the Flyers in regulation. Matthew Knies and defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson tallied for Toronto before Morgan Rielly notched the winning goal in sudden death. Auston Matthews had two assists for the Maple Leafs.
Here are five things to watch in Tuesday's tilt.
1. Winning the draws
Toronto is a club that presents a variety of different matchup difficulties for their opponents, especially now that Matthews has returned from injury. The Maple Leafs are deep at center, with Matthews and John Tavares supplemented by Max Domi and David Kampf.
The Maple Leafs' strength at center was in evidence throughout Sunday's game. Start with faceoffs: Toronto won 67 percent of the draws (37 of 55), including Matthews going 13-for-17, Tavares winning 10 of 13 and Kampf posting a 7-for-11.
The Flyers' centers, collectively, must do a better job holding their own on faceoffs in Tuesday's game. Sean Couturier won six of nine draws on Sunday but the other centers struggled: Morgan Frost (3-for-13), Noan Cates (6-for-18), and Ryan Poehling (3-for-11). Laughton stepped in for two draws and went 0-for-2 after Frost was dumped from the circle by the linesmen.
Faceoffs are not entirely the centers' responsibility, although the win or loss goes on their stats. Many faceoffs create 50-50 battles in which a winger has to come in to get the puck. On Sunday, the Flyers' wingers won relatively few of those battles.
2. Eye on Risto
Veteran Flyers defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen played one of his best all-around games of the season in Sunday's game in Toronto. Even apart from assisting on both of the Flyers goals, the big Finn was a tower of strength in his 23:10 of ice time (31 shifts).
Ristolainen played an excellent game along the walls and in front of the net. He won the decided majority of his puck battles and muscle-on-muscle positional jockeying, He was physical (five credited hits) without taking himself out of position or being whistled off for any penalties.
Up-ice, Ristolainen was involved in joining the attack. He recorded five shots on goal among eight shot attempts.
If Ristolainen can crank out a similar performance in Tuesday's rematch, it will go a long way toward the Flyers' chances of earning three of four possible points from the home-and-home set with the Maple Leafs.
3. Tipp and TK
Over the last few games, wingers Travis Konecny and Tippett have skated on a five-on-five line with Poehling. Tuesday's game will be a very important one for the trio.
Konecny has had good success against Toronto for the majority of his career. In 22 games, he has posted 20 points (six goals, 14 assists). However, TK was held off the scoresheet on Sunday.
In Sunday's game, Tippett played with good pace but he struggled to put shot attempts on net. On eight shot attempts, Tippett had five that got blocked and two that missed the net. The streak-scoring winger has two points (0g, 2a) in his last five games.
4. Special teams
The Flyers did a good job of staying out of the penalty box in Sunday's game, even though things got feisty at times. Philly killed their lone 4-on-5 penalty of the game.
On the power play, the Flyers went 0-for-3. The third power play struggled to get organized, whereas the first had a decent amount of attack zone time but no payoff. While the second power play did not result in a goal during its two-minute span, Couturier set up Laughton's goal very shortly after 5-on-5 play resumed.
5. Between the pipes
Ivan Fedotov got off to a tough start in Sunday's game, especially on a rebound that resulted in Toronto's second goal. Thereafter, he settled in and made some clutch saves at key moments. Given that he had not seen any game action in a full month, Fedotov played a decent game.
Tortorella and goalie coach Kim Dillabaugh now must decide whether to tab Fedotov again against the Maple Leafs. Rookie netminder Aleksei Kolosov has struggled of late. Samuel Ersson remains day-to-day with a lower-body injury.
Dennis Hildeby delivered a strong performance on Sunday after Joseph Woll played on Thursday and Saturday. Woll is now rested.
