Flyers 4, Maple Leafs 2: Captain Claude Giroux collected a goal and two assists and Steve Mason turned aside 32 shots as host Philadelphia snapped a two-game losing skid.
Scott Hartnell had a power-play goal and an assist and Vincent Lecavalier scored on a 5-on-3 man advantage in his first game since being dropped to the fourth line. Wayne Simmonds matched Giroux with his team-leading 25th goal for the Flyers, who moved within one point of the second-place New York Rangers in the Metropolitan Division.
Former Flyer James van Riemsdyk tied an NHL record for the fastest goal from the start of a period when he scored four seconds into the middle session. Dave Bolland also tallied for the Maple Leafs, who have dropped seven in a row and remained even in points with Detroit, Columbus and Washington in the race for one of the two wild-card spots in the Eastern Conference.
After Hartnell gave Philadelphia a 2-1 lead midway through the second, Giroux doubled the advantage with a wrist shot from the left circle at 4:57 of the third. Bolland cleaned up a rebound 81 seconds later, but Toronto captain Dion Phaneuf failed to settle a loose puck in front of his own net and Simmonds made Jonathan Bernier (25 saves) pay for the miscue.
Lecavalier unleashed a one-timer from the right circle past Bernier for his 399th career goal to open the scoring 5:35 into the first period. Van Riesmdyk answered four seconds into the middle session after wristing a shot from the left circle that glanced off Mason’s shoulder and into the net.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Van Riemsdyk’s tally tied Montreal’s Claude Provost and Chicago’s Denis Savard for the fastest goal to start a period. Provost accomplished the feat against Boston on Nov. 9, 1957, and Savard tallied four seconds into the third versus the Hartford Whalers on Jan. 12, 1986. … Toronto is mired in its longest losing skid since dropping eight in a row from Oct. 28-Nov. 13, 2010. … Prior to Friday’s contest, Lecavalier had been held off the scoresheet in each of his previous six games. … Philadelphia RW Steve Downie missed his third straight contest with an upper-body injury.
