Flyers end Leafs’ run on the road
Toronto had registered points in 11 straight away games before a late Philadelphia goal brought an end to the streak
PHILADELPHIA— The Maple Leafs are heading into the NHL all-star break in the playoff hunt.
And if you’re surprised by that, you’re not alone.
“I am a little bit surprised, to be honest,” forward Nazem Kadri said. “I expected us to make some noise this year and to be a good hockey team. But I think we’re surprising a lot of people.”
They didn’t, however, go in to all-star weekend on a winning note, losing 2-1 Thursday to the Philadelphia Flyers in a game that looked every inch a battle be- tween two teams that had played the night before and could really use a break.
William Nylander scored for the Leafs, who got a solid goaltending performance from Curtis McElhinney, who faced 34 shots.
“These points are critical for us at this point, and it would have been nice to come out with at least one,” said McElhinney.
Wayne Simmonds scored on a breakaway in the first period to give the Flyers a 1-0 lead. The goal came about a minute after the Flyers killed off a four-minute high-sticking penalty to Ivan Provorov, and swung the game’s momentum. Nylander scored the lone goal of the second period, a second effort on a nice feed from Kadri.
The Flyers won it with a late thirdperiod goal by Roman Lyubimov after dominating the third period.
“They were better than us in the third period, they played harder, a big part of that was they won the faceoffs,” Leafs coach Mike Babcock said.
“They spent more time in our zone. In the end, it’s disappointing, because you were two minutes away from getting a point.
“In saying that, the better team with the game on the line won.”
The Leafs dropped out of a playoff spot with Boston’s win over Pittsburgh, but remain very much in the hunt with games in hand on the teams within striking distance.
There’s been a lot to like about the Leafs this season. Their 9-0-2 run on the road, which ended with the loss to the Flyers, was a team-record road points streak. They have the league’s best road power play and penalty kill. They have eight rookies who play important minutes and are obliterating the team’s rookie record books.
And they’ve been playing well enough without defecneman Morgan Rielly, arguably their third most important player behind goalie Frederik Andersen and all-star centre Auston Matthews.
“He’s obviously one of our top defenders and logs a lot of ice time,” Kadri said. “The defencemen who have stepped in have showed some patience and composure and done what they’ve been asked to do. That’s part of the depth. That’s how you win games.”
With all the hype about how good the Maple Leafs are doing, there are areas where they need to improve. Against other playoff contenders, for one thing.
With the loss to the Flyers — a team in the same area code as Toronto in the thick of those teams in the middle of the pack in the Eastern Conference standings — the Leafs are 9-9-6 against teams that were in a playoff spot heading into Thursday’s games.
And Babcock wants the team to better in back-to-back games. The Leafs are 2-8-1 in the second game, and Babcock doesn’t want to hear about being tired.
“When you were young, you played three minor hockey games in one day,” Babcock said.
No question, however, the Leafs are a better team now than they were at the beginning of the season, learning how to hold third-period leads and get points out of games more frequently.
And they have managed to stay in the hunt without Rielly. The defenceman was hurt early in last Tuesday’s win over the Buffalo Sabres. In addition to the result against the Flyers, the Leafs have beaten Calgary and Detroit, lost to the Rangers, and picked up a point against Ottawa.
Rielly should be back shortly after the all-star break. His lower-body injury was not disclosed, although a high-ankle sprain would hamper his skating. But the Leafs’ relative success without him has meant there’s no rushing his return.
“What it does, it allows Rielly to get healthy instead of getting him back too soon,” Babcock said.