PHILADELPHIA – With eyes on the clock and the ice as time wound down, the Toronto Maple Leafs’ Matt Hunwick scored with 7.5 seconds left in regulation to give the Leafs a 3-2 win over the Philadelphia Flyers Tuesday night.
“Just happy to contribute,” Hunwick said. “Most nights, it’s in the defensive zone or on breakouts, kind of under the radar. Always nice to chip in a goal and help the team win.”
James Reimer made 31 saves in win over Flyers – file photo by Lewis Bleiman
Joffrey Lupul and Roman Polak also scored for the Leafs
“[Polak] has been a workhorse for us the whole year,” Maple Leafs captain Dion Phaneuf said. “He’s been consistent, really hard to play against. Sometimes he doesn’t get the credit he deserves. For him to get rewarded offensively, makes a great read to jump in to the play. I think it’s great for [Polak].”
The Maple Leafs will be pleased if Lupul can back on track. His goal Tuesday was his fist in 12 games.
“Anybody who perceives themself as a scorer and they’re not scoring, their confidence goes away,” Toronto coach Mike Babcock said. “Maybe now [Lupul] can get relaxed and get playing the way he’s capable of playing. Thought he was physical tonight.”
James Reimer made 31 saves for the win.
“I’ve been struggling,” Lupul said. “Think I haven’t had one since Christmas; that’s a long break. That’s the way it goes. Good play by [Nazem Kadri] to Dion, puck kind of pops to you. You hang around those areas enough that you start to get some. Hopefully, I can get on a little roll now.”
Matt Read and Shayne Gostisbehere scored for the Flyers.
“We didn’t play the way we wanted to play tonight and we have to put this one behind us, learn from it, watch video and find the things we did wrong out there and figure it out quickly,” Read said. “If we play like that, it’s going to be a rough next couple of games for us.”
Steve Mason made 32 saves in the loss.
“It wasn’t a good game,” Mason said. “It would’ve been great to get into overtime. But at the end of the game there, we got what we deserved for the effort that we had tonight.”
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