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Flyers down Maple Leafs, 7-1

Mar 30, 2012 - 3:56 AM Toronto, ON (Sports Network) - Wayne Simmonds supplied two goals and an assist, Danny Briere collected four assists and the visiting Philadelphia Flyers posted a 7-1 victory over a listless Toronto Maple Leafs team on Thursday night.

Brayden Schenn scored two first-period goals for the Flyers, who swept the four-game season series and notched their fifth consecutive win at the Air Canada Centre.

"For me you could see it coming," Flyers head coach Peter Laviolette said about the scoring outburst. "You can see the lines getting opportunities."

Philadelphia is now two points behind fourth-place Pittsburgh in the Eastern Conference standings.

Mikhail Grabovski supplied the lone goal for the Maple Leafs, losers of a franchise-worst 11 in a row at home. Toronto hasn't won as the host since February 6.

The storyline heading into the game centered around goaltending, with Philly's Ilya Bryzgalov sitting out with a chip fracture in his right foot. The Flyers turned to Sergei Bobrovsky and he made 16 saves in just his second appearance since February 18. His last win came against the Maple Leafs on February 9.

The masked men became even more of a focal point after Toronto's scheduled starter Jonas Gustavsson was felled by a Clarke MacArthur shot during warmups.

Jussi Rynnas made his first NHL start in place of Gustavsson, who took a shot off his left knee but returned to the bench by the start of the second period. The 24-year-old Finn faced 30 shots.

"When you have a young guy that steps in and is going to play his first full [game] in the NHL, I would've expected more from our group from a protection standpoint," said Toronto head coach Randy Carlyle.

Schenn beat Rynnas on the short side from the left circle with a wrister to open the scoring 5:34 into the contest. The former first-round pick then scored on a power play, converting Briere's pass on a 2-on-1 at 11:01, after Toronto's Jay Rosehill was whistled for concurrent penalties.

The Maple Leafs got on the board when Grabovski roofed a backhander on a breakaway with 5:44 remaining in the first period.

Simmonds made it 3-1 at the 3:55 mark of the second period. Given all kinds of time and space to saunter out of the left corner in the Toronto zone, Simmonds sent the puck past Rynnas high on the blocker side, a shot almost identical to the one utilized by Schenn on his first goal.

Philadelphia extended its lead later in the frame on a short-handed goal by Matt Read, who crashed the crease and buried the rebound of Maxime Talbot's deflected pass at 12:03. It was Read's 23rd goal of the season, the most among all rookies.

Eric Wellwood, Jakub Voracek and Simmonds tacked on goals in the third period.

Game Notes

Briere recorded his first career four-assist game...Philadelphia forward Jaromir Jagr had three assists...The Maple Leafs matched the longest home winless streak in franchise history. The club went 0-7-4 from December 19, 1987-January 25, 1988...Rynnas made his NHL debut Tuesday against Carolina in relief of an ineffective Gustavsson...Grabovski's goal was his 200th career point...Flyers defenseman Kimmo Timonen missed the game with an upper-body injury...Philadelphia was coming off a 3-2-0 homestand.