Flyers reuniting with Scott Laughton as they visit Maple Leafs
It’s not the homecoming that will truly get the emotions going and every Philadelphia Flyers fan honoring what a player that wore the Orange and Black for over a decade, but will still be a reunion.
The Flyers are going north of the border and visiting the Toronto Maple Leafs, the team that longtime veteran Scott Laughton was traded to just two and a half weeks ago at the NHL trade deadline. It will still be an emotional return, to see their former teammate at the other end of the ice, and it will be especially that for the new Leaf.
More Laughton: "I grew up in Philly. Had our baby there. It’s always going to be part of us and part of our home. Probably keep our place there and go back throughout our lives. I think it’s always going to be home. It’s emotional when you go through a big change like that.”— Kevin Kurz (@KKurzNHL) March 25, 2025
Ah, that gets you in the feelings a little bit.
Outside of the reunion, the Toronto Maple Leafs are a good hockey team that is battling for the top spot in arguably the best division in the NHL; and the Flyers are sinking towards the bottom of the overall standings and every single fan of theirs is cheering for them to sink further and get one of this year’s top prospects in June.
It’s just one of those funky meetings where you know the Leafs might Leaf It Up and get blown out, or something. Or, Auston Matthews will regain some of his lost scoring touch this season and put a hat trick behind poor Sam Ersson.
The Game
When: 7:00 p.m. ETWhere: Scotiabank ArenaHow to watch: NBCSP, ESPN+
Storylines to watch
How’s it going, Scott?
It’s going to be a weird feeling seeing Laughton on the other team, but you also just have to feel sorry for him at this point. Being a Leaf means when you are playing well you are the greatest player to ever live, but when you’re playing poorly, you should be thrown out the doors of Scotiabank Arena and never heard from again.
Unfortunately, in the eight games he has played for Toronto, Laughton has scored zero points, has just six shots on goal, and all while averaging just 12:32 TOI. With a sizeable price tag of a first-round pick and a fun prospect in Nikita Grebenkin, the expectation that Laughton would solidify the Leafs’ bottom six has not become a reality and there is already a disappointment across Leafs Nation.
Well, that sucks for them and sucks for Laughton. Maybe, the Flyers will just let him get his first for Toronto tonight.
Michkov, Konecny staying together for the long haul
John Tortorella confirmed yesterday that he is going to keep the two best wingers the Flyers have right now together on the same line. Genius thinking, to be honest.
Centered by Sean Couturier, it is a trio that we saw earlier this season when everything was working well and the offense was humming at a decent pace. Something went array and up until now, we haven’t had this line stay together. It’s going to be something to note that could be a longer-term picture as Konecny and Michkov might have to take turns playing on the side that they do not prefer.
The Flyers are finally trying a five-forward power-play unit
We might be finally getting something going on the power play. The Flyers have been stuck in a rut of maybe the worst man-advantage sequences you have ever seen in your whole entire life, but this trip north of the border has somehow inspired the team to try something out. They’re going to put five forwards on the power play.
Looks like the Flyers might roll with a five forward PP unit tonight: Michkov, Konecny, Couturier, Brink, Foerster.— Charlie O'Connor (@charlieo_conn) March 25, 2025
Honestly, it took them long enough to try something less traditional. They have been rotating blueliners in and out of the top power-play unit for so long now and not liking what they’ve been seeing, that this felt like something we have been hoping for. Let’s see how it pans out tonight. And even if it doesn’t work, we just hope that they keep at it and try it for longer than just one game and a few minutes. Please, Torts, just have some patience with this one.
The goaltending is facing an even bigger challenge
Okay now back to the misery. The Flyers’ goaltending has been majorly stinky this season and now, they get to face a hungry Auston Matthews trying to prove that he is still the same goalscorer as he was in the past, Mitch Marner trying to put more millions on his next contract, William Nylander vying for Toronto MVP, Matthew Knies proving to the world that he is one of the best young wingers, and John Tavares trying to show that he’s not going anywhere but still deserves a decent salary next season. That is a lot of inspiration and push for players to score some goals and they’re facing a team that has a team-wide .850 save percentage this month — and it’s not really been all that better for this entire season.
For the tank, we hope for a bloodbath. For action, we might get a bloodbath. For dignity, we hope just to leave Canada without a blowout.
Projected lineups
Philadelphia Flyers
Tyson Foerster — Noah Cates — Bobby BrinkMatvei Michkov — Sean Couturier — Travis KonecnyOlle Lycksell — Ryan Poehling — Jakob PelletierOwen Tippett — Rodrigo Abols — Nic Deslauriers
Cam York — Travis SanheimNick Seeler — Jamie DrysdaleEgor Zamula — Emil Andrae
Sam Ersson(Ivan Fedotov)
Toronto Maple Leafs
Matthew Knies — Auston Matthews — Mitch MarnerBobby McMann — John Tavares — William NylanderPontus Holmberg — Max Domi — Nick RobertsonScott Laughton — David Kampf — Steven Lorentz
Morgan Rielly — Brandon CarloJake McCabe — Chris TanevSimon Benoit — Oliver Ekman-Larsson
Joseph Woll(Anthony Stolarz)...
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