Giroux, Flyers Beat Maple Leafs 6-1 for 5th Straight Win

PHILADELPHIA — Claude Giroux scored the go-ahead goal midway through the third period and the Philadelphia Flyers had three goals in the final 2:06 to get their fifth straight win, 6-1 over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday night.

Travis Konecny had a goal and an assist for Philadelphia, which has earned points in seven straight games (6-0-1). The Flyers had an NHL-best 24 points in November, going 10-2-4 to tie a franchise record for most points in a month. Carter Hart finished with 27 saves.

Scott Laughton, Joel Farabee, Shayne Gostisbehere and James van Riemsdyk also scored.

Travis Dermott scored for Toronto, which lost for just the second time in six games since Sheldon Keefe replaced the fired Mike Babcock as head coach on Nov. 20.

Travis Dermott Toronto Maple Leafs
Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Travis Dermott (AP Photo/John Locher)

Giroux fired a wrist shot past Frederik Andersen from close range after Travis Konecny’s backhand pass from behind the net.

Konecny finished a 2-on-1 with a hard wrist shot through Andersen’s legs with 3:28 remaining. Farabee notched empty-netter 1:22 later before Gostisbehere’s slap shot and van Riemsdyk’s goal from in close finally ended the scoring.

Dermott tied the score at 1-all 8:38 into the third when his wrist shot from the point went off Hart’s blocker, over his head and into the goal.

That was the only shot the Leafs could get past Hart. The 21-year-old was particularly strong in the first period when he made 15 saves. He made a pair of strong stops on a Toronto power play with 6 1/2 minutes left in the first, snagging a shot by Auston Matthews with his glove and then stopping a slap shot by William Nylander. He denied Justin Holl’s backhand try with 1 1/2 left in the first that left Holl shaking his head.

Carter Hart Philadelphia Flyers
Carter Hart, Philadelphia Flyers (Jess Starr/The Hockey Writers)

Laughton opened the scoring with 11:11 left in the second period with his third of the season. Kevin Hayes skated hard to the net and set up Laughton, who beat Andersen on the blocker side from right in front of the crease.

NOTES

Philadelphia took the three-game season series 2-1. The Flyers won 4-3 in a shootout in Philadelphia on Nov. 2 while the Leafs earned a 4-3 shootout win at home on Nov. 9. … Flyers LW Michael Raffl appeared to injure his hand late in the second period and didn’t return. … Philadelphia D Philippe Myers had three assists.

UP NEXT

Maple Leafs: Host Colorado on Wednesday night.

Flyers: Host Arizona on Thursday night.

___

More AP NHL: www.apnews.com/NHL and www.twitter.com/AP_Sports

Aaron Bracy, The Associated Press