Flyers’ penalty kill fails, Ivan Fedotov a bit better, and other takeaways from another loss to the Leafs

While the Flyers currently sit three points out of a wild-card spot, the Toronto Maple Leafs have a comfortable lead in the Atlantic Division.

But even after playing consecutive tight games with one of the top teams in the East — and losing, 3-2, both times — the Flyers didn’t want to claim any moral victories Tuesday night.

“I think we’re a tough team, too,” winger Travis Konecny said. “I don’t look at that like I’m proud of us to compete with them. We can compete with anybody.”

Here are three takeaways from Tuesday’s 3-2 loss:

» READ MORE: Matthew Knies’ go-ahead goal sinks Flyers to 3-2 loss against visiting Maple Leafs

The Flyers outshot and outchanced the Leafs by a significant margin, with little to show for it. The shot margin was 32-17 in the Flyers’ favor, while scoring chances were 34-21, according to Natural Stat Trick.

Part of that can be attributed to Leafs goalie Joseph Woll. But the difference also proved to be Toronto’s power play, which allowed them to tie the game twice in the second period. John Tavares’ snipe from the left faceoff circle made it 1-1 early in the period, and Auston Matthews’ snap shot one second after the power play clock expired evened things, 2-2, about six minutes later.

“It’s just a good power play. They’re moving,” said center Noah Cates, who was on the ice for Matthews’ goal. “And obviously me and [Scott Laughton] are new [penalty killing partners] and just got to kind of find that chemistry and work together and talk a little bit more.”

It especially hurt the Flyers that they couldn’t stay out of the box when they were on the man advantage. Two of the Flyers’ power plays — including one in the final minute of the game — were nullified by undisciplined play.

“They were making every call tonight, so it’s kind of tough,” Konecny said. “Obviously, we want to stay 5-on-5 no matter what, but they were active tonight, and it’s kind of just the way it goes. You still got to win those games.”

Flyers coach John Tortorella turned to Ivan Fedotov for both games of the home-and-home set against Toronto, giving him his first game action since Dec. 5.

“It feels really good when you play a lot and you can find the rhythm,” Fedotov said. “How to stop the puck, how you just do your work, your job, not only practicing but you can feel some emotions, feel the rhythm, feel everything.”

He came up big on several occasions, with a key stop on Max Domi in the first period, and later turned aside a Steven Lorentz breakaway with the game still tied.

But Fedotov left a bit too much of the net open for Tavares to pick his spot in the second period. And allowing three goals on 17 shots won’t help the Flyers’ league-worst save percentage.

To be fair, Fedotov was somewhat left out to dry on Matthews’ goal, as the Leafs captain was left open in the slot, and he had no chance on Matthew Knies’ game-winning deflection through traffic.

“I would say probably we can play a little bit better in front of the net when the players are making some screens and tips. So I have to do a bit better,” Fedotov said.

Tortorella is not ready to say whether Fedotov’s standing has changed permanently in the Flyers’ three-goalie depth chart.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen with the goaltending rotation,” he said.

» READ MORE: Should the Flyers take a chance on Trevor Zegras? And three other centers Danny Brière could target in a trade.

Konecny was responsible for both the Flyers’ goals — his 19th and 20th — and even had a chance at a hat trick at the end of the game.

Though Matvei Michkov was held off the scoresheet, the 20-year-old also had a strong offensive game with a team-high eight shots on net. Michkov has scored just one goal since Dec. 7, but he seems close to breaking out. He generated six individual scoring chances on Tuesday, two of which were classified as high-danger by Natural Stat Trick (also a team-high).

Michkov spent a chunk of the third period down the tunnel following a collision with Scott Laughton. The worst-case scenario seemingly was avoided after both players returned to the ice later in the period.

“No one wants to see that. It looked pretty bad,” Konecny said. “So it was good they both came back.”

And after returning to the ice, Michkov gift-wrapped a game-tying goal to Owen Tippett, finding him backdoor at 6-on-5. Tippett had an open net but sent the puck wide.

“Had some good looks,” Konecny said. “I mean, we work at the setups, and we gave ourselves a couple chances, and sometimes you win, and sometimes you don’t.”