Toronto @ Philadelphia preview

Last Meeting ( Mar 15, 2019 ) Philadelphia 6, Toronto 7

The Toronto Maple Leafs erupted for seven goals in their last victory over the Philadelphia Flyers before scoring seven times in their next four games to raise concerns about their offense. The Maple Leafs squashed that talk by registering seven goals for the fifth time this season in their last outing heading into the opener of a three-game road trip versus the Flyers on Wednesday.

John Tavares posted his first career four-goal performance in Monday's 7-5 win over Florida and boosted his career-high goal total to 45, with a dozen coming in his last 17 games. "Just trying to play my game. With the type of players I'm playing with and the type of team we have, they make so many plays," said the 28-year-old, who also matched his personal-best total in points of 86 in his first season with Toronto since signing a seven-year, $77 million contract. Former Maple Leafs forward James van Riemsdyk has also paid dividends after inking his five-year, $35 million deal in the offseason, scoring 11 goals in a 13-game stretch -- including a hat trick in a 7-6 setback at Toronto on March 15. The 29-year-old van Riemsdyk was held off the scoresheet in his last two contests -- both losses -- as Philadelphia has little margin for error in its quest for the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference with six games remaining on its schedule.

TV: 7 p.m. ET, Sportsnet, TVAS (Toronto), NBCS Philadelphia

ABOUT THE MAPLE LEAFS (45-25-6): Morgan Rielly set up a pair of goals versus the Panthers to record his eighth multi-assist and 17th multi-point performance of the season and become the third defenseman in franchise history (Borje Salming, Ian Turnbull) to reach the 70-point mark. Mitch Marner did Rielly one better by setting up three goals on Monday heading into a tilt with Philadelphia, against which he registered three assists in two games -- with two coming in Toronto's 6-0 romp on Nov. 24. Zach Hyman is riding a three-game goal-scoring streak to give him 12 of his career-best 20 tallies in his last 26 games, with one coming during the teams' seven-goal second period in the offensive slugfest on March 15.

ABOUT THE FLYERS (36-32-8): Jakub Voracek reached the 20-goal plateau for the third straight season and sixth in seven years when he scored on the power play in the second period of Sunday afternoon's 3-1 setback to Washington. The tally was the 29-year-old's first since he scored versus Toronto, with captain Claude Giroux notching three assists in that contest while Sean Couturier set up a pair of goals. Giroux has 16 assists and 19 points in the last 15 games to boost his team-leading totals to 60 and 80, respectively, while Couturier has 44 points (16 goals, 28 assists) since Jan. 8.

OVERTIME

1. Philadelphia rookie G Carter Hart has a 2-3-0 mark despite turning aside 177 of 189 shots in his last five starts since returning from an ankle injury.

2. Maple Leafs C Patrick Marleau will suit up for the 1,652nd regular-season contest of his career to move past Hall of Famer Chris Chelios for sixth place all-time in the NHL.

3. Flyers C Nolan Patrick has just four points this month, although two -- both assists -- came in the meeting with Toronto.

PREDICTION: Maple Leafs 6, Flyers 2