Flyers beat the Maple Leafs, 4-1

TORONTO - After their worst third-period home collapse in 23 years, the Flyers were happy to have a quick chance to redeem themselves Thursday.

And that's just what they did.

Danny Briere scored two goals, and backup goalie Brian Boucher was outstanding as the Flyers defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs, 4-1, at the Air Canada Centre.

Briere collected three points, while defenseman Andrej Meszaros added two assists and five blocked shots.

"It's a little bit of redemption," said Briere, who now has 16 goals, placing him fifth in the NHL. "We wanted to shut the game down and not give them too much, and I thought we did a much better job tonight."

Boucher (31 saves) is giving the Flyers' brass a difficult decision on who will be the No. 2 goalie behind Sergei Bobrovsky when Michael Leighton returns from his AHL rehab stint. The Flyers may go with three goalies for a while.

"I thought he completely controlled the game and was probably the best player on the ice," coach Peter Laviolette said after Boucher lowered his goals-against average to 2.40.

Ville Leino and Chris Pronger also scored for the Flyers, who have picked up points in nine of their last 10 games (6-1-3).

Wednesday's 5-4, shoot-out loss to San Jose was the first time since 1987 that the Flyers had lost a regular-season home game after blowing a three-goal, third-period lead.

Playing Thursday suited Laviolette.

"Get back to work; that's the best thing you can do," Laviolette said before the game. "We'll get back out there and try to right our wrong. . . . You lose a game like that, and it just leaves a bad taste - and you can utilize that to your advantage."

Boucher made a handful of key early saves - the best was on Colby Armstrong from point-blank range - and Leino (power play) and Pronger scored first-period goals as the Flyers built a 2-0 lead.

Shoddy work on face-offs played a major role in the Flyers' loss Wednesday, but they reversed their fortune in the first period Thursday, winning 71 percent of the draws. (They finished the night with a season-best 68 percent success rate.) Wins on draws contributed to their first two goals. Richards and Jeff Carter finished a combined 24 for 29 (82.8 percent) on face-offs.

Leino scored when his shot dribbled off goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere and went between his legs. Giguere had missed the previous two games because of a groin injury, and he looked rusty.

"I was saying to Kimmo [Timonen] before the face-off, if we win it, I would come to the flank and shoot right away," Leino said after his second goal in as many nights. "The puck came my way, and I shot it and just tried to get it through. It got through and it got through the goalie, too."

The Flyers were three for their last 48 on the power play before Leino's goal. A little over a minute after Leino scored, Pronger notched his fourth goal when his shot from the right point went past a screened Giguere.

"What happened [Wednesday] night was still fresh in our heads," said Pronger, who also blocked five shots.

The Flyers killed all four Toronto power plays, allowing just a total of two shots in those eight minutes. Toronto fans booed the Leafs' efforts.

With 7 minutes, 42 seconds left in the middle period, Briere gave the Flyers a 3-0 lead. Meszaros' shot bounced off the end boards to Briere, who, with no one near him, gathered the puck and tucked it into a mostly empty net.

"When we made a mistake, it ended up in our net," Toronto coach Ron Wilson said.

Toronto got to within 3-1 when Mikhail Grabovski converted a sweet feed from Clarke MacArthur with 3:46 remaining in the second.

Just 1:03 later, Briere answered, scoring his second of the night.

"We wanted to play a strong third and stay out of the [penalty] box, which we did," said Boucher, now 6-2-1 with a 1.65 goals-againt average in his career against the Leafs.