Coming off a blowout win over the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday, and playing their second game back-to-back, their third game in four nights, the Toronto Maple Leafs showed no sign of fatigue as they handily defeated a Philadelphia Flyers team that continues to struggle.
A high paced game with lots of action at both ends of the ice, the Flyers actually outpaced and out possessed the Toronto Maple Leafs, posting a 56.86% CF% and 52.7% xGF%, but that is mostly due to score effects.
Matt Murray bounced back after a difficult start his previous game, playing excellent last night limiting the opposition to only two goals, despite facing 36 shots on the evening.
I was impressed by the play of the team as a whole, but ultimately it was the second line of Marner, Tavares, and Calle Jarnkrok that took over the game and did the most damage, finishing with three points each. Jarnkrok and Tavares each had a goal and two assists, with Marner ending the night with three assists (more on this below).
Toronto Maple Leafs Continue To Reach New Milestones
Every game it appears someone on the Leafs reaches a new milestone. Tonight it was Conor Timmins turn. Timmins scored his first NHL goal with a beautiful writer from just outside the circle in the second period, assisted by none other than the magnificent Mitch Marner.
With three assists on the night, Marner, now has 351 total for his career, which puts him seventh on the all time Leafs leader board in that category.
John Tavares Scores Goal Number 410
With tonight’s goal by the Captain of the Blue and White, Tavares now sits at 19 for the season and 410 overall, which ties him with Corey Perry and the immortal Ray Bourque for 96th overall on the all time list of NHL goal scoring leaders. Next up is Gary Unger and John MacLean, who each have 413 goals.
At the rate he is scoring, it shouldn’t be long before Tavares passes both of them as well, and at his current rate of scoring we should see him finishing somewhere around 40 goals on the season.
The Leafs schedule continues to remain packed, as their next two games are another back-to-back with the first game on Wednesday against the Nashville Predators, before a re-match against Detroit on Thursday, followed by a meeting with the league leading Boston Bruins on Saturday, which again would be their third in four nights.
With the win last night, the Leafs are firmly in second place in the Atlantic with 57 points, eight points ahead of third place Tampa, and are tied for second overall in the league with Carolina.
It’s looking like another record breaking season for the Leafs and fans couldn’t be happier as this team continues to silence their critics while reaching all kinds of new personal milestones along the way.