PHILADELPHIA – They can’t all be classics.
The Toronto Maple Leafs touched down in Philadelphia crashing off an emotional wave. An electric week saw them knock off a pair of divisional foes (Boston and Florida) in convincing fashion, then fete super-sniper Auston Matthews on home ice and exact their revenge on the Winnipeg Jets.
Would it be possible for them to attack the lowly Flyers with the same vigour, knowing their first measuring-stick trip to Florida was right around the corner?
“It hasn’t gone as well for us in these types of games, against these types of opponents,” coach Sheldon Keefe conceded. “A lot of it is [because]the opponent plays well.
“We’re expecting them to play a good game with lots of energy, and our guys have to be prepared to go and execute the way we have in recent games.”
Keefe tried to draw on Jack Campbell’s return and prospect Nick Abruzzese’s debut for motivation, but his players came out flat against another lottery-bound opponent.
But the Maple Leafs needed to get a little lucky before they got good, jetting out of town with a 6-3 comeback victory and two more points in the vault.
Following a no-goal, low-energy first period, Kevin Hayes popped open on the doorstep and opened the scoring in Period 2.
Toronto needed all of 69 seconds to leap back into a game it had no business leading.
Former Flyer Wayne Simmonds accepted a beautiful stretch pass up the gut from T.J. Brodie and beat Carter Hart on a breakaway goal, snapping a 32-game goal drought.
Then defenceman Timothy Liljegren wired a point shot wide that ricocheted off the end boards and clicking it in off the back of Hart’s foot as the goalie tried to slide to his post. Yikes.
Ivan Provorov tied the contest with whack from the slot.
With the Maple Leafs pressing harder in the third period and Hart scrambling in his net, Auston Matthews scored his 51st to regain the lead.
Pierre Engvall held and sniped on a shorthanded 2-on-1 to give the Maple Leafs a league-leading 12 shorties on the season.
Provorov struck again to narrow the gap, but Morgan Rielly responded for the Leafs.
John Tavares piled on the party, too, beating Hart clean off the rush.
An explosive four-goal frame that reinforces the notion that the Leafs can survive on bursts of brilliance and don’t necessarily have to turn in a full 60 to scoot by a weak team.
The Maple Leafs’ road trip now heads south to Tampa Bay, where the forecast is a 100 per cent chance of better hockey.
Fox’s Fast Five
• The Philly faithful booed the linesmen for busting up a Wayne Simmonds–Zack MacEwen scrap before it could start. Do they not know what city they’re in? (The combatants would later get their fight, and the crowd roared.)
• With the Maple Leafs struggling to gain momentum for the first 30 minutes, Keefe went full blender with his top nine in Period 2. Ilya Mikheyev–John Tavares–Mitch Marner is compelling look.
• For the first time, we’re told, in four and half years, the 76ers played a matinee on the same day as a Flyers night game. (Apparently, former coach Alain Vigneault was a fan of the daytime slot.)
As a result, the Leafs were jostled out of their routine and not given access to Wells Fargo Center for their morning skate and meeting.
“A bit of a strange day for us,” Keefe said. “We spent time at the hotel today, so that in itself is a different routine for our guys — which sometimes is a good thing.”
• Another rare sight: dueling rookie laps. A pair of NCAA recruits, Toronto’s Nick Abruzzese and Philadelphia’s Ronnie Attard, made their NHL debuts Saturday.
Admitting to nerves, Abruzzese had his parents and sister in town to watch his dream come true. “It hasn’t fully sunk in yet,” Abruzzese said.
Attard’s debut put an end to Keith Yandle’s ironman streak at 989 games.
• Very cool scene pre-game: Spotted a gregarious Wayne Simmonds catching up with a long-serving Flyers staffer in the bowels of Wells Fargo Center. The gentleman had pulled out his smartphone and got his wife on FaceTime so Simmonds could visit with her too.
