The Maple Leafs started the second half of their 2024-25 regular season with a victory in Philadelphia against the Flyers on Tuesday night.
The 3-2 win didn’t transpire how coach Craig Berube might have drawn it up, as Toronto’s 17 shots on goal tied their season-low.
Still, two points are two points, and the Leafs have 56, tying them with the Washington Capitals for most in the Eastern Conference.
Our takeaways from the Leafs’ 27th win:
CAPTAIN COMES THROUGH
The tally on captain Auston Matthews since he returned from an upper-body injury is impressive.
Matthews assisted on John Tavares’ 20th goal early in the second period and scored less than seven minutes later, pulling the Leafs into a 2-2 tie.
Matthews has seven points in three games since getting back into the lineup. For the majority of players, it takes a game or two, if not more, to find a groove. After missing six games this time — Matthews missed nine games in November — it’s like the 27-year-old was never gone.
It hasn’t taken any time for things to click with Mitch Marner and Matthew Knies again.
“I feel good, I think every night I’ve felt better,” Matthews told media at the Wells Fargo Center after the game. “You want to keep that momentum going.
“My linemates have been making it easy on me. It always helps when the puck goes in the back of the net and it gives you a bit of confidence. I just want to take it one game at a time.”
Matthews and Marner, along with Tavares, did on Tuesday what they’re paid to do — lead and make a difference. The Leafs were lost in the opening 20 minutes and were down 1-0.
In the second, Matthews and Marner assisted on Tavares’ power-play goal, and Tavares and Marner assisted on Matthews’ goal.
“It has been great having him back and he has jumped in really nicely starting on Saturday,” Tavares said of Matthews. “Seems really in rhythm. His instincts and the compete level he has, his willingness to stay on pucks and push the pace with his feet … details like that go a long way and set the tone with the group.”
On Tuesday, it was done in front of the Leafs’ mentors, as the group of special people in players’ lives are on the road for the trip that ends in Carolina on Thursday against the Hurricanes.
Matthews’ reason for bringing along former Leafs teammate Joe Thornton was clear.
“He’s not just my mentor,” Matthews said. “I feel like he’s almost everybody’s mentor here. We’re close. We talk all the time and I thought it was a cool opportunity to bring him along. It’s been a treat to have him so far.”
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THIRD’S A CHARM
The Leafs have become one of the stronger teams in the National Hockey League in the third period.
On Tuesday, the heroes were goalie Joseph Woll, who stopped all 13 Flyers shots in the third, and Knies, who deflected a Morgan Rielly shot past goalie Ivan Fedotov at 13:21 for the winning goal.
On the whole, the Leafs have become a team of resolve under Berube.
They improved to 4-2-1 when the game is tied after two periods. They’re 19-0-0 when they lead after two periods. They’re 9-1-2 in games decided by one goal.
If you’re looking ahead to the playoffs, keep the Leafs’ stoicism in mind.
“I think it’s been the best period for most of the year,” Matthews, referring to the third. “That was the message going in (at) 2-2. Just go out there, play a good 20 and see what happens. Another gutsy one by the boys. Just keep chugging along.”
HIT AND MISS
The impact that Berube sought in putting Ryan Reaves back in the lineup didn’t materialize.
If the intent was for Reaves to set a tone in the first period, it didn’t happen.
The Leafs didn’t have a shot on goal until the latter half of the period and finished with two.
It wasn’t just that.
Anyone thinking there was a good chance that Reaves was going to fight Flyers forward Garnet Hathaway hasn’t been paying attention. Reaves hasn’t fought since last April 6, when he dropped the gloves with Michael Pezzetta of the Montreal Canadiens.
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Hathaway might have been in the Leafs’ crosshairs after defenceman Jake McCabe suffered an upper-body injury in a fight with Hathaway on Sunday in Toronto. But he and Reaves didn’t come close to having a scrap.
Instead, the Leafs’ Connor Dewar and the Flyers’ Joel Farabee went at it in the first period.
“He’s a motor out there,” Berube said in reference to Dewar. “He doesn’t stop. He gives you everything he has every shift. Big fight for us. We didn’t respond good enough to it, but he has been a good player for us.”
Reaves had four hits in the game and played less than seven minutes. A shot by the Flyers’ Travis Konecny went off Reaves’ stick for the first goal of the game.
Reaves was scratched in five of the previous seven games and the Leafs managed just fine.
How Reaves is used — and how much he is used — deeper into the second half and into the playoffs will be intriguing.
And if general manager Brad Treliving adds another forward or two before the March 7 trade deadline, what will that mean for Reaves?
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