Music: {allcanada} Kessel, Bolland lead Maple Leafs past Flyers

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

{allcanada} Kessel, Bolland lead Maple Leafs past Flyers

Crash My Party - Luke Bryan

PHILADELPHIA -- As far as birthdays go, it was a pretty good one for Phil Kessel.

One day after receiving an early present from the Toronto Maple Leafs -- an eight-year contract extension reportedly valued at $64 million -- he celebrated his 26th birthday Wednesday by scoring his first goal of the season to help the Maple Leafs sweep their season-opening back-to-back set with a 3-1 win against the Philadelphia Flyers.

The win came 24 hours after the Maple Leafs opened the season with a 4-3 win at the Montreal Canadiens.

Dave Bolland's first of two goals 2:30 into the third period snapped a 1-1 tie created by Kessel's goal late in the second period. Jonathan Bernier, in his first start for the Maple Leafs, made 31 saves.

Though Bolland will get credited with the game-winning goal, a major assist went to the Maple Leafs' penalty-killing unit, which shut down six of the Flyers' seven power-play chances.

Brayden Schenn scored the Flyers' goal. Steve Mason made 22 saves.

Schenn's goal with 6.9 seconds left in the first period opened the scoring, but Kessel tied the score late in the second. Early in the third Bolland -- acquired from the Chicago Blackhawks in June, days after he scored the game-winning goal in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final -- scored another winner.

The Flyers got the puck behind the net in their end, but Nikolai Kulemin bumped Mark Streit off the puck, and Joffrey Lupul picked it up and found Bolland open in front of the Philadelphia net. He one-timed the pass over Mason at 2:30 to put the Maple Leafs ahead 2-1.

The Flyers pushed to get the goal back, outshooting the Maple Leafs 10-5 after the goal. Their best chance came with 3:48 remaining, when Vincent Lecavalier had a bouncing puck land on his stick at the side of the net, and as he lunged for the shot, Bernier shot out his right pad and glove to deflect it over the goal and into the protective netting.

Bolland closed the scoring with a power-play goal with 22.5 seconds left when he came in from the right side to bang in the rebound of a Lupul shot.

Kessel tied the game with 2:54 left in the second period. Dion Phaneuf intercepted a long Maxime Talbot pass in the neutral zone, entered the Philadelphia zone and shot through a screen by Flyers defenseman Braydon Coburn. Mason picked up the puck late and kicked his left leg out to deflect the shot. Nazem Kadri drove to the net for the rebound but tumbled over Flyers defenseman Nicklas Grossmann, creating a screen for Kessel, who picked up the loose puck in the slot, to score through.

The Flyers had a chance to go ahead when Wayne Simmonds was awarded a penalty shot with 3.1 seconds remaining after he was pulled down on a breakaway by Paul Ranger. Simmonds skated in on Bernier and tried to get the Maple Leafs goalie moving side to side to open space between his pads, but Bernier snapped his legs closed to deny his attempt.

The first period had a frantic end; Schenn scored a power-play goal with 6.9 seconds remaining to give the Flyers a 1-0 lead.

Streit dumped the puck into the Toronto end, and as it rolled behind the net to the right side, Lecavalier bumped Mason Raymond off the puck and carried it behind the Toronto goal. As he came from behind off the left post, he backhanded a pass to Schenn in the low slot, who beat Bernier.

"Anytime you score a goal and help contribute to the team is obviously a plus and a bonus," Schenn said. "There was some pretty nifty work by Vinny down low which just goes to show you how good he is."

The Flyers outshot the Maple Leafs 15-9 in the period, one that saw the Philadelphia go 1-for-3 on the power play and keep Toronto without a shot for a 12:13 span in the middle of the period.

Night Train - Jason Aldean