Advertisement

The Maple Leafs continue to find ways to win games, this time thanks to a couple of second-period power-play goals (one technically coming a second after expiry), excellent penalty killing, and a game-winning five-on-five goal in the third period courtesy of the red-hot Matthew Knies.

With a 3-2 victory in Philadelphia, the Leafs remain undefeated in 2025 and have now won five consecutive overall as well as five straight on the road.

Your game in 10:

1.   It’s easy to fixate on the eye-catching 10-2 shot count in the first period and suggest the opening 20 minutes were a disaster for the Leafs, but within the first seven minutes, they created the following looks:

  • A rush opportunity right in the slot where Bobby McMann couldn’t quite corral the puck.
  • A breakaway for Matthew Knies where he fired wide.
  • A whiff from point-blank range by Ryan Reaves followed by a second opportunity William Nylander couldn’t take advantage of (they were on the ice at the same time due to the Connor Dewar fight).
  • An odd-man rush for Nylander and McMann that was poorly handled by McMann, who slowed up and hit Nylander with an early pass in the neutral zone instead of ripping down the ice for a proper 2v1.
  • A decent look off the rush at the back post that Nylander fanned on.

Total recorded shots on goal from those looks? One, which I believe was later removed from the shot clock.

The squandered opportunities were frustrating, but I was actually reasonably optimistic about the initial start. The Flyers are an aggressive team up the ice, and the Leafs were catching them out. The McMann and Nylander combo showed early promise in terms of their speed feeding off of each other. Dewar acquitted himself well in his fight vs. Joel Farabee. The Leafs just needed to bear down.

2.   The Leafs regretted those missed opportunities when they conceded eight minutes and change into the game on a fourth-line shift where McMann was spotted in for Dewar, who was still in the box.

Off a lost defensive-zone faceoff, Ryan Reaves initially did well to prevent a goal at the back post, but when Travis Konecny cut across the zone and opened up for a one-timer on a pass out of the corner, it deflected in off of Reaves’ stick.

It was kind of a whatever goal more than some egregious breakdown — McMann or Reaves probably could’ve read it a beat quicker to close some space on Konecny — but what bugged me a little bit about the sequence was a small thing before the Flyers’ rush leading to the Leafs’ defensive-zone faceoff. The Leafs got a puck in deep, and Reaves had an opportunity to fly in hard on the forecheck and either get onto the puck or plant the Flyers defenseman into the glass, but he kind of went through the motions for an easy zone exit (as a charitable explanation, he might have been worried about arriving too early for an interference call).

Reaves ended up playing 6:52, whiffed on a good scoring chance, had a Flyers goal go in off of him, and didn’t really make much of a physical impact in this game. He can’t chase Garnet Hathaway around the ice and take an undisciplined penalty, nor can he make an unwilling participant fight him, but to justify his lineup spot (and especially in the wake of the previous game vs. Philly), he’s got to make his presence felt in the game more than just a decent hit on the first shift and a brief bit of jawing by the bench.

3.   What was genuinely disappointing about the first period — and it plays a big role in the shot count being what it was — was that the Leafs’ power play was horrendous in its two opportunities. It really hurt the team’s momentum.

The first power play, drawn by a nice drive to the inside off the rush by Bobby McMann, started with a lost draw followed by a D-zone giveaway by Morgan Rielly and didn’t improve much from there (Nylander later fumbled a one-timer attempt as he continues to fight something resembling the yips).

In between man advantages, the Leafs survived a scare where the puck trickled nearly over the goal line behind Joseph Woll, and Max Domi nearly scored on a great look at the back post at the other end (Domi was backpedaling and didn’t get all of it; it was also a good save by Ivan Fedotov). Again, the shot count was pretty deceiving.

The power play’s ineptitude was neither pretty nor deceiving, and it got worse on the second opportunity. The Leafs gave up a 2v1 right away before Matthews and Marner combined to give the puck away with a simple pass off the mark. Marner then tossed a ghastly between-the-legs pass for turnover and a breakaway against, but Woll was there.

4.   Morgan Rielly finished his shift on the second PP opportunity with a giveaway followed by slamming his stick off the glass in frustration, and to start the early power play in the second period (drawn by a high-stick on Steven Lorentz), he was yanked off the top unit. The Leafs went with five forwards, with Matthew Knies joining the top unit.

The initial start to this PP was just as concerning as the previous two, as the Leafs turned it over off the draw, and then Nylander lost control of a puck for a turnover following the pass reception on the slingshot entry play. Nylander recovered with a better entry afterward, and the Leafs finally set the zone.

John Tavares‘ goal itself was a hard shot but a bad one to concede for Fedotov, who, believe it or not, is 6’7 (he was really deep in his net on this one). The Leafs didn’t do anything too special to earn it, but they did at least set the zone, recover a puck after a Matthews shot from the top, move their feet, and string a few passes together without turning it over before Tavares’ goal.

5.   It was quite obvious from the tying goal that the Leafs needed to find a way to test Fedotov more than they were (if he is an NHL-calibre goalie talent, he is currently an inexperienced and not particularly confident one).

The Leafs weren’t getting decidedly outplayed in terms of possession time, but they weren’t tilting the ice enough with sustained zone time/cycle time starting with effective, in-sync forechecks, and they weren’t funneling nearly enough pucks toward the Philly net. The Flyers like to create a bit of a track meet when they can with their team speed, and the Leafs needed to bog them down and make them defend/test their inexperienced goalie. Toronto recorded just nine shot attempts at five-on-five in the middle frame.

Max Pacioretty couldn’t connect on a good look — the puck bobbled a bit — before Woll came up with a big point-blank save on Farabee. The Leafs then fell behind for a second time near the end of some four-on-four time seven minutes into the period.

Playing his first game since New Year’s Eve, Conor Timmins (who also had some nice moments in the game) got stripped of possession by his own goal line during the four-on-four sequence. As a righty on the left side in this instance, Timmins surveyed his options up ice and then tried to cut back and bump a pass to McMann while McMann looked to break up the ice, and the two were not on the same page. Noah Cates outbattled Timmins to force a turnover, leading to a chance in alone and a nice finish by Travis Konecny.

6.   A second after their abbreviated power play expired following the end of four-on-four time, the Leafs scored a de-facto PP goal courtesy of Auston Matthews, tying the game back up within 40 seconds of conceding. It was a great response to falling behind in the game, which — however ugly the Leafs may be playing — the team deserves a lot of credit for in general this season. They don’t panic or rattle easily when a game isn’t going their way.

OEL was on with the top unit this time, and the Leafs did a good job of recovering a puck on the wall, allowing them to get into formation. From there, we saw the main theme of the Leafs’ power play when it’s successful this season: Mitch Marner skated downhill with the puck on his stick, creating a passing lane with his legs and picking out a good option — this time, Matthews was there in the slot to redirect a puck into the far side of the net.

It hasn’t always been pretty, but the Leafs’ road power play is now nine for its last 31 (technically eight-for-31, but this goal happened one second after the expiry) — a big reason why the team has won five in a row on the road after a tough start to the season away from home.

7.   With David Kampf in the box, the Leafs completed a fairly tidy kill in the second half of the middle frame. They completed three rotations inside the first minute or so (with one particularly nice break-up by Marner) and then got a few saves from Woll on Flyer shots from the outside. Good penalty killing and goaltending have served as the team’s backbone in many games where they’ve brought their B (or worse) effort and still managed to salvage points and wins.

Steven Lorentz‘s breakaway in the final minute of the second period was just the team’s eighth recorded shot on goal — not good enough, but it has to be noted they had several odd-man opportunities, a couple of breakaways, and some point-blank looks in the opening 40 minutes of this game.

Speaking of Lorentz, I wondered whether he would fall back into the mix of on-the-bubble players when he was mired in the one-point-in-21-games stretch, similar to how Noah Gregor (last year’s PTO signing) faded after a decent start last season. However, he’s found another gear recently (and to his credit, he still managed to be a plus-one in that 21-game drought). His placement on L3 is not a permanent solution, but I thought the promotion was well-earned on the merits of his recent play. He had his legs tonight, drew a penalty leading to a goal, and could’ve scored one after a nice play to bat down a puck and burst in alone (he almost sprung Pacioretty for a breakaway at one point, too, if not for a nice diving defensive play).

8.   Not an uncommon sight this season, with the game in the balance, the Leafs’ third period was their best. They dictated play for most of the first 13 minutes. As the game-winning goal approached, they finally got their forecheck and cycle game rolling, putting together consecutive shifts of sustained offensive-zone pressure. They wore on the Flyers until they cracked. You could feel the top line’s goal coming on the shift prior to their goal as they tilted the ice and went to work.

By the time they took the lead with seven minutes remaining, the Leafs were up 15-5 in shot attempts for the period with an 85% xGF; they had fully earned the goal by the latter metric, with 1.08 expected goals in the first 13 minutes of the final frame, which was more than the previous 40 combined.

9.   The game-winning goal came from a simple formula of a faceoff win, bodies to the net, and a good shot for a tip by Morgan Rielly, who redeemed himself after some tough stretches throughout the game. Matthew Knies continued his red-hot form with another nice tip for a goal, his 16th of the season, fifth in the last three games, and technically his first game-winner of the season. He’s now tied for second in the NHL in five-on-five goals with 14.

When Anthony Petrielli recently reviewed Knies’ 15 goals from his rookie season, of the three credited as tips, he counted only one as a true tip goal. Knies has the hands, has put in the work on it, and is now scoring them in bunches. This was Knies’ fifth goal credited as a tip by NHL.com this season, which places him in a tie for second in the NHL in the tipped goals category. Next on the team is Pacioretty’s two, followed by Tavares, Matthews, and Marner with one apiece.

It’s much needed on this team and important for the Matthews-Marner line, which has historically fallen into bouts of fancy-pants perimeter play at times, particularly in the playoffs.

10.   It feels almost automatic right now that the Leafs, one way or another, will close a game out late in the third period, and it started with a good penalty kill following a Pacioretty puck-over-glass penalty. Connor Dewar and Matthews broke up entries at the line, Marner made a couple of nice clearances, and the team conceded zero shots on goal.

The Leafs also definitely needed a little luck this time with the goalie out. A seam pass to Owen Tippett really should’ve been polished off at the back post with a wide-open net.

On another penalty kill in the final minute, before Marner and Matthews battled the puck out of the zone and drew a tripping penalty on Matthews (effectively ending the game), Joseph Woll continued to stand tall in the net. Woll, who is sitting at a .915 overall through 20 starts, improved his save percentage when leading to .928 over all situations — top five in the NHL.

Game Flow: 5v5 Shot Attempts

Heat Map: 5v5 Shot Attempts

Game Highlights w/ Joe Bowen & Jim Ralph

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR