Leafs squeezed out at home

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In the hours leading up to Thursday night's opening faceoff, Philadelphia Flyers coach Peter Laviolette made a prediction for the game, one he imagined to be true of an opponent right on the NHL's playoff bubble.

"We're certainly planning on them to be ripping the door off the hinges to get on the ice," Laviolette said of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

"That's where they're at right now. We understand that they need to win a hockey game and we've got to make sure we're ready to play that way as well."

Then came that faceoff and a 3-2 win by the Eastern Conference-leading Flyers, one that puts another dagger in the heart of the Leafs' already slim postseason hopes.

And those hinges? Here's guessing they're just fine.

For the third game in a row, Toronto served up something far less than desperation hockey for much of the night, and unsurprisingly, the results showed just that. After a heady 10-2-4 run after the all-star break, the Leafs' have now lost three in a row for the first time since late January.

"We had to go ugly and we didn't do enough of that," Leafs coach Ron Wilson said. "In the first period, we didn't go to the front of the net, [Brian]Boucher saw a lot of the shots and made easy saves. You allow a goalie to do that, he gets comfortable in goal."

For Philadelphia, the win was their second straight after a 2-5-1 stretch, making it appear they're righting their ship.

After taking a 1-0 lead on a five-minute power play early in the first, the Flyers then held the balance of play for a long stretch of play, getting two quick goals - including one rookie netminder James Reimer should have had - in the second period and snuffing out but one Leafs' opportunity.

In the third, Leafs winger Mike Brown blazed into the zone and found Joffrey Lupul for a pretty goal eight minutes in to make things interesting for Toronto, but they managed few quality chances for the equalizer the rest of the way.

"It was just a tight-checking game and unfortunately we fell behind by two," Lupul said. "We clawed our way back, had a couple opportunities with the goalie pulled there, but couldn't get it done."

"Before we were getting the bounces and now it just seems we're a half second behind or maybe miss one little assignment and it ends up costing us," Reimer said. "I think it's just a little tough time and something we have to fight through. And we're going to be better for it. You learn from these games just as much you do when you win."

With the Buffalo Sabres winning 4-3 in overtime in Boston, the gap Toronto needs to make up increased to six points, making things look mighty grim with only a month to go in the regular season.

Hits keep coming

On a day when the hockey world was still debating the news that Boston Bruins captain Zdeno Chara wouldn't be suspended for his big hit, there were a couple questionable ones in this game.

Leafs defenceman Mike Komisarek had the first one only 3:45 in, when he shoved Flyers winger Dan Carcillo from behind and he fell awkwardly into the end boards.

Philadelphia opened the scoring a minute into Komisarek's boarding major, with Andrej Meszaros beating Reimer, but Toronto's woeful penalty kill escaped with only the one blemish.

Carcillo, meanwhile, missed about half the rest of the period but returned to the game no worse for wear. Even so, the early word was that Komisarek may face a suspension.

"We got through the kill, but we wanted a good start and it did have an effect for us in the first period no doubt," Wilson said. "It's certainly not a suspendable offence [for Komisarek]because their player came back and played. But it's a five-minute major."

Later in the first, Flyers winger James Van Reimsdyk did the honours, with a legal but dangerous check that sent Leafs winger Colby Armstrong awkwardly into the boards.

Like Carcillo, Armstrong returned to the game after missing only a few minutes of play.

Reimer's costly lapse

The Flyers' second goal was a bit of a backbreaker, as already up 1-0, plugger Darroll Powe beat Reimer with one the youngster was to blame on.

Powe's weak shot came from behind the goal line with a defenceman on his tail, but the puck caught Reimer unaware, trickling between his legs for one of the uglier goals he has allowed this year

"It was a flukey goal and that's on me," Reimer said. "It's disappointing. It's really disappointing."

The Leafs drew back to within one soon after, when a point shot from Dion Phaneuf hit a Flyer and deflected off of Grabovski's visor into the net, breaking an 0-for-25 skid on the power play.

Grabovski had a red bump on his forehead after the game but was no worse for wear.

"Thank God he's wearing a shield," Wilson said. "Which everybody should be wearing for that very reason right there. He would have gotten the puck right in the forehead. I'm surprised we haven't been tweeted, 'he's got a concussion' and all that."

Philadelphia was back up by two in mere minutes, however, courtesy of budding star Claude Giroux completing a pretty passing play late in the middle frame to give them a 3-1 lead they carried into the third.

Playoff picture

With 14 games left, the Leafs likely need to win 10 or 11 games the rest of the way to make the postseason, a tall task given the quality teams they'll face.

Not to mention their current mini-funk.

Saturday's home game against the Sabres, who are holding down one of the final playoff spots, is a game Toronto needs to win.

"[Buffalo's win]makes Saturday's game all the more important," Lupul said. "There's a lot of games left, but this is as close to a must-win as you can get."

The Sabres - and goaltender Ryan Miller, in particular - have been exceptionally tough for the Leafs to beat since the lockout, however. Miller is 24-9-0 in his career against Toronto.