PHILADELPHIA -- For the sixth time this season, the Flyers had a chance to reach the .500 level.

Again, they failed to scale Mount Mediocrity.

Toronto, getting goals from four players, scored a methodical 4-2 win over the Flyers at the Wells Fargo Center on Monday night.

In their five previous attempts to reach the .500 mark, the Flyers (9-11-1) lost all five games -- and allowed five goals in each of them, getting outscored by a combined 25-10.

Mikhail Grabovski gave the Leafs a 3-1 lead by scoring with 12 minutes, 8 seconds left, knocking in a backhander on a rebound. The goal was scored six seconds after a Maple Leafs' power play expired.

James van Riemsdyk, playing at the Wells Fargo Center for the first time since he was traded to Toronto last summer, gave his former team life by getting a double-minor with 8:42 left. It took the sizzling Jake Voracek (14 points in last six games) just 24 seconds to convert, cutting the deficit to 3-2 by scoring from the right circle as Wayne Simmonds set a screen.

Shortly thereafter, the Flyers had a handful of other chances on the second power play but couldn't connect.

Toronto (12-8) iced the win on Jay McClement's empty-net goal.

The Flyers' sleepy attack didn't awaken until late in the second period as Scott Hartnell scored his first goal of the season. Taking a right-wing feed from Voracek, Hartnell lifted a shot to the short side, over goalie Ben Scrivens' right shoulder, to get the Flyers within 2-1 with 2:04 remaining in the second period.

"Good things happen when you go to the net," said Hartnell, who was playing his second game after missing most of the season with a broken left foot. "I was able to get a step on one of their defenders and Jake made the perfect pass."

Toronto, which is 2-0 against the Flyers this season, had taken a 1-0 lead as Phil Kessel skated past Kimmo Timonen and beat Ilya Bryzgalov with a bad-angle shot from deep inside the right circle. The shot, which went past Bryzgalov on the far side, caromed off the inside of the left post and into the net with 2:40 left in the first period.

The Maple Leafs made it 2-0 as Nikolai Kulemin got past Danny Briere, took a slick pass from Nazem Kadri and backhanded a right-circle shot off the left post and into the net.

The game marked van Riemsdyk's return. He was acquired for Luke Schenn last June.

"We were pretty close for about four years there, and to see him on another team is kind of weird," Flyers captain Claude Giroux said before the game. "I'll have to slash him a little bit to let him know I was there."

Giroux was kidding.

"I have a lot of respect for him," he added. "He's a great guy off the ice, and on the ice he's a good player."

Van Riemsdyk, shadowed by the hit-happy Zac Rinaldo for most of Thursday's game, entered the night among the NHL leaders with 11 goals.

"It's been no secret that I've been used more 1/8with Toronto3/8 in different situations and had more of an opportunity -- and I've been able to capitalize on that," van Riemsdyk, whose parents traveled from central Jersey to attend the game, said after the morning skate.

In their pevious attempt to reach .500, the Flyers dropped a 5-2 decision to visiting Florida last Thursday. The Flyers cited fatigue as they were coming off a six-game road trip, playing on consecutive nights, and had scored an emotional 6-5 win in Pittsburgh 24 hours earlier.

On Monday, they had no excuses.

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