Maple Leafs-Flyers Preview

Regular Season Matchup
	W-L-OT	HOME	ROAD	DIV	CONF
TOR	34-35-13	16-16-9	18-19-4	9-13-2	29-27-8
PHI	44-27-11	24-13-4	20-14-7	13-7-4	36-20-8
· Complete Standings

Team Stat Comparison
244	Goals	260
286	Goals Against	232
62	Power Play Goals	71
78	Power Play Goals Allowed	67
6	Shorthanded Goals	16
7	Shorthanded Goals Allowed	1
1125	Penalty Minutes	1434
14	Average Penalty Minutes	17

Goalie Breakdown
	GOALIE	GP	W	TGA	GAA	SO	SV	SV%
	Vesa Toskala	53	22	166	3.26	1	1352	.891
	Curtis Joseph	21	5	50	3.57	0	333	.869
	Martin Gerber	12	6	38	3.23	0	364	.905
	Justin Pogge	7	1	27	4.36	0	146	.844
	Martin Biron	55	29	146	2.76	2	1572	.915
	Antero Niittymaki	32	15	83	2.76	1	864	.912

Team Stat Leaders
G	Jason Blake 25	Jeff Carter 46
A	Matt Stajan 40	Mike Richards 50
PTS	Jason Blake 63	Jeff Carter 84
PIM	Pavel Kubina 94	Riley Cote 174
SOG	Jason Blake 302	Jeff Carter 342

The Philadelphia Flyers have managed to win only once in four games, and that came via the shootout. Those aren't good results for a team trying to lock up a playoff berth with just over a week left in the regular season.

The Flyers look to improve their postseason chances Friday night when they attempt to split a home-and-home series with the Toronto Maple Leafs at the Wachovia Center.

Philadelphia (41-25-10) is 1-3-0 in its last four with the lone victory coming in Saturday's 4-3 shootout win against the NHL-worst New York Islanders. The Flyers failed to build on that win the following night, falling 4-3 to Eastern Conference-leading Boston before losing 3-2 at Toronto (32-32-13) on Wednesday.

"The way we played, that's not a playoff team trying to win the Stanley Cup," defenseman Kimmo Timonen said. "Let's be honest, the next six games, it's playoff time for us. It's time to wake up and really, really bear down. It's hard to say what the reason is (for lackluster play) but, whatever it is, it has to change."

Philadelphia has six games left in the regular season, which ends with it hosting a fellow playoff contender in the New York Rangers on April 12.

The Flyers could use some production out of Jeff Carter, who is tied with Atlanta's Ilya Kovalchuk for third in the NHL at 41 goals.

Carter has managed three goals in the last 11 games and has been held without one for the past three.

He found the back of the net twice in the last home meeting with Toronto on Jan. 10, a 4-1 victory.

The Flyers, though, are 4-10-2 in their last 16 games against the Maple Leafs, who are eliminated from playoff contention.

Toronto is 5-3-0 in its last eight games with all but one contest coming against a team that has either clinched or is attempting to make the playoffs.

"I don't know about being a spoiler, but there's a lot of pride in this room," Curtis Joseph said after making 32 saves Wednesday. "We've built a lot of chemistry over the year and I think it's showing here at the end of the year.

"We all get along well and we do a lot of fun things together. That's showing in our play."

Joseph, who will turn 42 on April 29, could return to the bench Friday after Martin Gerber served the last of his three-game suspension for abusing an official.

Gerber was tossed with 56 seconds remaining in a 3-2 shootout win over Washington on March 24 for pushing referee Mike Leggo and shooting a puck in his direction after getting upset that the tying goal was allowed.

Gerber is 4-3-0 with a 2.89 goals-against average in eight games since the Leafs claimed him off waivers from Ottawa on March 4. He's 4-2-1 with a 2.62 GAA in eight career appearances against the Flyers.