The Good, Bad & Ugly in Maple Leafs’ 3-2 OT Win Over Flyers

The Toronto Maple Leafs were home to the Philadelphia Flyers on Sunday night in the second of back-to-back games. This game was not the fast, wide-open affair the Bruins game was the night before. However, it was not slow and plodding like the two games versus the Islanders. It was somewhere in between. It was much more physical—the two teams combined for 76 hits, 43 by the Maple Leafs. The Maple Leafs won the game by a score of 3-2 in overtime.

What were the good, bad, and ugly aspects of the game?

The Good: The Maple Leafs Can Win in Many Ways

Three different teams, three different types of games, and four close contests. And the Maple Leafs won all four of them.

After their defense not scoring a single goal in December, the Maple Leafs have had three goals from the back end in the last two games. Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Morgan Rielly both broke extended goalless streaks in this game. Ekman-Larsson skated in from the point, reached out with one hand on his stick, and pushed it past a prone Flyers goalie Ivan Fedotov at the end of a mad scramble around the net to give the Maple Leafs a 2-1 lead at 18:52 of the first period. It was Ekman-Larsson’s second goal of the season and his first in 32 games.

Rielly scored in overtime to break a 2-2 tie and a personal 26-game goal drought. On the play, John Tavares relayed a clear by Dennis Hildeby from the Toronto zone to Auston Matthews just outside the Flyers’ blue line. Matthews entered the zone with the puck, waiting for Rielly to catch up to the play. Matthews gave the puck to Rielly as he entered the zone with speed. Rielly then beat Fedotov on his glove side with a wrist shot from the inside of the faceoff circle to the left of Fedotov.

The other Toronto goal was Matthew Knies’ fourth goal—and sixth point—in two games. He scored 38 seconds after Philadelphia took a 1-0 lead in the first period. Knies batted in a rebound after Matthews tipped a point shot by Chris Tanev. Fedotov was able to stop Matthews’ tip. However, he could not control the rebound, and the puck went right onto Knies’ stick.

After giving up a soft goal to open the game, Hildeby, in his first NHL start since December 15th, was solid the rest of the way. He stopped 30 of 32 shots overall to pick up his second win in his last two NHL starts. It was his third win of the season in four starts.

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The Bad: Hildeby’s First Goal Against Was Soft

Hildeby himself admitted the first goal he gave up was one he should have had in his post-game interview. It came off an unblocked wrist shot by Tyson Foerster from well out—the top of the faceoff circle to Hildeby’s left. The shot beat Hildeby low on his stick side. The play was set up by a hit on Max Pacioretty inside the Flyers’ blue line by Garnet Hathaway as Pacioretty was moving in to check Noah Cates exiting the zone. It was interference by Hathaway. By his body language, Hathaway knew it. But no call was made.

After Toronto took a 2-1 lead into the dressing room at the end of the first period. However, the Flyers tied the game 2-2 at 11:08 of the second period. The play was started by a turnover in the Toronto zone and finished with Rielly failing to cover the goalscorer, Scott Laughton, in front of the net. A dump-in by Rasmus Ristolainen came around the boards from Hildeby’s left to his right. William Nylander went to play the puck. But it skipped over his stick and went right to Sean Couturier. He was able to enter the zone with a head of steam. Couturier carried the puck deep into the corner to Hildeby’s right and then fed a cross-crease pass to Scott Laughton. Rielly attempted to tie up Laughton’s stick as he approached the net. He failed, and Laughton was able to tuck the puck behind Hildeby into the net.

Could Nylander Be Injured?

Nylander was called to the bench right after that goal and replaced by Steven Lorentz for the remainder of that shift. He did return for his next shift. Nylander has failed to put a puck into the net for six straight games. He had been the Maple Leafs’ hottest goal scorer this season, having scored five goals in his previous three games.

Not only that, but Nylander has also seemed lethargic on the ice in his recent games. He does not have the usual crispness to his skating and play with the puck. While nothing has been said, it is almost like he is either dealing with something or has been affected by whatever illness is going through the room. After saying he wanted more ice time this season, he has averaged a full two minutes more per game over the last 30 games compared to his first 12. Berube has also been double-shifting him on the power play and leaving him out for the full two minutes quite often.

Maybe the extra ice time is taking a toll on Nylander. Whatever it is, hopefully, Nylander can get past it soon. He is the driver on the line with Tavares and Pacioretty. After being the Maple Leafs’ best line for most of the season, the second line has been their worst line of late.

The Ugly: McCabe Suffers Injury in Fight with Hathaway

After Hathaway ran over Hildeby with six seconds left in the first period, Jake McCabe came to Hildeby’s defense and confronted Hathaway. The two of them dropped their gloves and got in a few punches before they grappled and fell to the ice. As they fell, McCabe hit the back of his head hard on the ice. He tried to get to his feet, but you could see he was out. He finally stayed down and was tended to by medical staff.

While he appeared to gain his wits, he was escorted off the ice and left the game. He did not return. McCabe already missed five games after taking a puck to the head on a shot from Nick Perbix of the Tampa Bay Lightning on November 30th. We will have to wait for news on how bad the injury is and how long he may be out.

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What’s Next for the Maple Leafs?

After playing four games in six nights and winning them all, the Maple Leafs go into a relatively light month heading into the close-to-two-week break they get while playing the 4 Nations Face-Off tournament. They play 14 games over the next 34 days. None of them are back-to-back. Eight of the 14 are on the road, including a four-game West Coast trip just before the break. Their next game will be a rematch with the Flyers in Philadelphia on Tuesday night.

If Joseph Woll remains healthy, he could start all 14 games. That gives Anthony Stolarz until the last week of February to get back to 100% before Toronto’s stretch drive to the playoffs, which will see the team play 23 games in just over six weeks.

Related: Maple Leafs Have Jake McCabe Injury Update After Fight Incident