The Flyers looked as if they were on the last leg of a long road trip Monday night in the 5-2 loss against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Instead, it was just the first of a six-game road trip.

Despite taking seven out of a possible eight points on the homestand, the Flyers had a hard time coming out strong in the first period and were forced to play catch up game after game.

The Flyers put an end to that trend when Wayne Simmonds gave them the early lead just 38 seconds into the game. Luke Schenn earned an assist in his first visit to Toronto since being traded to the Flyers

The Flyers started the game hot. They just couldn’t finish it.

In a span of 30 seconds, the game turned in the Leafs favor. After numerous failed clearing attempts by the Flyers, Colton Orr knocked in a rebound right behind Nicklas Grossmann and Matt Frattin made it 3-1 less than three minutes in the second period.

Neither goalie would make it through the second period. James Reimer was replaced by Ben Scrivens due to injury and Ilya Bryzgalov was pulled in favor of Brian Boucher.

Peter Laviolette’s time out didn’t spark the team so his next option was to pull the goaltender. Bryzgalov stopped just ten of the 14 shots he faced but the defense in front of him left him out to dry.

The Flyers had plenty of chances to inch their way back in the game with seven minutes of power-play time in the second period. That included a five-minute major when Tye McGinn was boarded face-first by Korbinian Holzer. They had six shots but mustered up only one decent chance.

James van Riemsdyk put the icing on the cake for Toronto when he absolutely burned Luke Schenn on a breakaway to score his eighth goal on the season. JVR finished with four shots, a goal and almost 19 minutes of ice time against his former team.

The Flyers need to forget about this game quickly since they head to Winnipeg to take on the Jets tomorrow night.