Tonight, at 7:30 p.m. ET, the Toronto Maple Leafs (1-0-0) visit the Philadelphia Flyers (0-0-0) in Philadelphia's regular-season and home opener at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. The game can be live streamed here. Maple Leafs fans can hear all the action on 1050 TSN Radio while Flyers fans can do the same by turning their dials to 97.5 FM the Fanatic
Toronto enters its second consecutive road game after a 4-3 victory over the Montreal Canadiens in the team's home opener Tuesday night while the Flyers make their season debut. Philadelphia will have a bit of a different look this season as newly acquired center Vincent Lecavalier and defenseman Mark Streit suit up in Flyers uniforms for the first time since being acquired in the offseason.
Lecavalier played in 39 games last year for the Tampa Bay Lightning during the 48-game lockout-shortened season and notched 10 goals and 22 assists for 32 points while Streit served as captain for the New York Islanders last season and appeared in all 48 games while registering six goals and 21 assists for 27 points and averaging 23:21 of ice time.
The Leafs were aided by special teams in Tuesday night's victory as James van Riemsdyk notched a power play goal and Tyler Bozak notched a short-handed goal. Van Riemsdyk was a pivotal piece for Toronto's success last season, scoring 18 goals and 14 assists for 32 points, and hopes to continue that this year while he got off to a good start last night.
"Early in the season special teams usually have a huge impact on the success or failure of your group," Toronto coach Randy Carlyle said to NHL.com. "Tonight, I thought our special teams were the difference in the game. The shorthanded goal kind of turned everything in our favor and the power play got us going."
The Leafs were able to etch a long-term extension with Phil Kessel prior to puck drop Tuesday night, which will see the Leafs winger stay with the team for eight years for $64 million. Kessel had an assist Tuesday and scored 20 goals and 32 assists for 52 points last season in 48 games.
For the Flyers, Steve Mason gets the nod between the pipes after being acquired from the Columbus Blue Jackets late last season. Last year, Mason had a 7-8-1 record combined with both clubs, with a 2.59 goals-against average and a .916 save percentage. Mason gets the nod over newly acquired Ray Emery, who went 17-1-0 last year with a stingy 1.94 goals-against average and a .922 save percentage with the Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks before signing with Philadelphia out of free agency
"I don't think it's a competition," Flyers coach Peter Laviolette told the Flyers' website. "The goalies are working hard and have looked good in practice and played well in the preseason games and you are going to see a lot of both goaltenders. We plan on utilizing both of them and I think it will be advantageous to keep our goalies fresh and we have that luxury."
The main offensive weapon to watch for Philly tonight is Claude Giroux, who led the team with 48 points in as many games last season.
The Maple Leafs will still be without David Clarkson, who was suspended for leaving the bench during a brawl with the Buffalo Sabres in the preseason.
Toronto looks to continue its winning ways for a second consecutive night while the Flyers look to open up strong in front of their home crowd tonight.
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