Leafs continue to ride hot goaltender

PLAY OF ANDERSEN

LANCE HORNBY The Toronto Maple Leafs look forward to when they won’t have to press their Frederik Andersen alarm button at the start and finish of every game.

This week, the Danish goaltending star certainly answered the call in two home wins to begin a stretch of five games against closely grouped teams in the Atlantic Division. The encouraging part of Thursday’s 36 stops in a 4-2 win over the Philadelphia Flyers were that his best stops immediately preceded huge goals by Toronto.

“We have to stop relying on him so much, be better in our own zone,” said Mitch Marner, who scored in the third period after Andersen stopped a Claude Giroux power play drive in a delicate area. “But he’s there for us and that’s good to know.”

Connor Brown put it more succinctly.

“We feed off him, not only the saves he’s making, but the way he looks making them. He just looks confident in there,’’ said Marner. “We know he’ll make the first save or the save that he’s supposed do and then it’s up to us. It makes our job easier.”

Down 1-0 on a Wayne Simmonds power play goal, Toronto pulled even with the Flyers when William Nylander tied the team record with his ninth man-advantage goal by a rookie. That tied him for the most PP goals by a Leafs’ rookie with Walt Poddubny, Dan Daoust and Alex Steen. His snap laser over Flyers’ goalie Michal Neuvirth was also his 21st power play point.

Then it was Steady Freddy time for the Leafs with backto-back saves on Brayden Schenn and the trailing Michael Del Zotto. After that flurry, the Leafs moved the puck up ice with Nylander absorbing a hit to get the puck deep. Tyler Bozak took the puck away from a Flyers’ defenceman and scored to give the Leafs a 2-1 lead at that point.

“We were tight early for six or seven minutes, but Freddy was good and then we got to skating and took the game over,” said coach Mike Babcock. “But we needed him again at the end on that (third period) penalty kill.”

That was late in third when Giroux’s laser shot was a direct hit into Andersen’s lower groin.

“It found a little hole in my gear and it didn’t feel so good,” Andersen said. “But making the save made me feel a little better. It’s fun to see the guys go down and score right after.”

Marner made it 3-1 with his own power play goal, but Toronto still had to survive a tight finish when Shayne Gostisbehere beat Andersen with less than three minutes to go and the Flyers buzzed with their net empty. Nazem Kadri clinched it with Neuvirth out.

“This was a playoff atmosphere, good to play in,” Andersen said.

Speaking of which, after preserving a 3-2 decision over Detroit on Tuesday, Andersen now has back-to-back wins for the first time since late January. The Leafs also reversed what had been a fivegame losing streak against teams right behind them.

“What I liked is that we were ahead and kept playing assertive,” Babcock said of a chunk of third-period time when Toronto looked like it was in control and not feeling pressured by a bigger, more experienced Flyers’ team.

“It’s like anything, confidence comes when a guy picks you up,” Babcock said in reference to Andersen and his 26 wins this year. The Leafs also rediscovered their power play with a pair of goals.

“Tonight our entries were good,” Brown said. “The more time you spend in their zone with control, you can wear down their PK.”

Bozak did not skate in the morning with a suspected lower body injury, then played a strong game.

“I’m getting older every year so the body is not as nice to you,” he said. “But we have a great medical staff here and I spent a lot of time getting ready. I still wasn’t sure in warm-ups (Eric Fehr was on deck), but it was a pretty important game for us, not one you wanted to miss.”

Bozak now has points in four straight games.