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The Toronto Maple Leafs endured a rollercoaster type of effort in a 4-3 overtime victory over the Philadelphia Flyers at Scotiabank Arena on Thursday, as the club was outworked early on, enjoyed the benefits of having the best sniper in the NHL in the middle frame, and then squandered their lead in the third period before winning in overtime.
Auston Matthews scored a natural hat trick in regulation to increase his goal total to 45 and his lead in the race for the Rocket Richard to six goals over Florida’s Sam Reinhart, and William Nylander notched the game-winner 54 seconds into overtime on a setup from Timothy Liljegren to give the Leafs their second straight victory at home.
“I thought our pace went up a lot in the second period. The second period, with the long changes, usually opens the game up a little bit more. I thought that worked to our benefit and really got us skating.” Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe said. “I thought Auston was the catalyst for it. It was not just because he shot the puck in the net. It was just the way he competed and won loose pucks. I thought he was a beast for us in that second period to really get us going and set the example of what was required.”
Although the Leafs earned the two points, the ongoing concern for the club is their inability to hold leads and nail down games. With a two-goal advantage late in regulation, Philadelphia scored twice in a span of 61 seconds to tie the game, with the equalizer coming on the power play after a careless offensive zone tripping penalty by Tyler Bertuzzi.
Ilya Samsonov made 29 saves for the victory, which moved the Leafs four points ahead of Detroit for the top wildcard spot in the Eastern Conference and within one point of Tampa Bay for third place in the Atlantic. Toronto finishes out their three-game homestand against Anaheim on Saturday before heading out west on a four-game road swing.
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On TSN’s Insider Trading, Chris Johnston reports that the Leafs are essentially taking a shotgun approach to the rental defensive market, as GM Brad Treliving has checked in on a number of blueliners with expiring contracts. Calgary’s Chris Tanev continues to be mentioned as someone at the top of the Leafs wish list, but the Flames supposedly will not deal him unless they get Toronto’s 2024 first round pick.
Treliving reportedly is offering up a package of lower draft picks in deals for other blueliners such as Philadelphia’s Sean Walker or Nashville’s Alexandre Carrier, but those clubs have not bitten on that. The Leafs have a 3rd (NYI), a 4th, three 5th’s (TOR, CGY, and VAN) a 6th, and two 7th’s (TOR and OTT).
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