Campbell, Nylander boost Maple Leafs in shutout of Flyers
Jack Campbell made 36 saves, and William Nylander scored twice to help the Toronto Maple Leafs defeat the Philadelphia Flyers 3-0 at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia on Wednesday.
“Right from the get-go you could tell we had a serious purpose out there and just executed the whole night,” Campbell said after his second shutout of the season. “To beat a good team like Philly in their own building, you have to win the net front. They have a lot of great players in front of the net, and they weren’t able to get any tips out there. … I just felt like everybody was in a zone, top to bottom. Everybody did their job and did it for 60 minutes.”
Auston Matthews had two assists for the Maple Leafs (8-5-1), who have won six of their past seven games. They were coming off a 5-1 loss to the Los Angeles Kings at home Monday.
“That was a really good response from us,” Matthews said. “Everybody on down the lineup was just really, really solid all throughout. Jack was unbelievable for us just like he’s been all year, so big kudos to him, but I just thought our effort right from the puck drop was just really solid all throughout the whole game.”
Carter Hart made 30 saves for the Flyers (6-3-2), who are 2-1-1 in their past four games.
“I wouldn’t say we got a whole lot of quality chances, but I think it was the same thing for the other team,” Philadelphia forward Sean Couturier said. “It was a tight game, but they get a lucky bounce there on the first one and then our penalty kill doesn’t get the job done and we’re chasing the game. It was tight out there, not really much both ways, but we have to find a way to win those games.”
Toronto took a 1-0 lead at 11:11 of the second period when Jake Muzzin’s centering pass deflected off Nylander’s skate. The goal was initially disallowed, but the call was overturned after a video review when it was determined that Nylander did not use a distinct kicking motion.
“I didn’t really know if I kicked it or not, but when I got to the bench I was told it was going to be a goal so I was pretty confident it would be a goal,” Nylander said.
Nylander made it 2-0 on the power-play at 5:09 of the third period when he scored from above the left hash marks. He has seven points (four goals, three assists) in a five-game point streak.
Ondrej Kase, who was a game-time decision after sustaining an undisclosed injury Monday, extended the lead to 3-0 when he one-timed a pass from Alexander Kerfoot in the high slot at 13:33. The goal was Kase’s 100th NHL point (45 goals, 55 assists).
“He’s really competed hard, he’s had a number of chances to score,” Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe said. “He was questionable to play tonight even but felt good enough through the morning skate, and for a guy like him with the injury history he’s had, the fact he wanted to play, was cleared medically and goes out and plays as hard as he does and gets rewarded, I think it’s great. He certainly deserves it.”
Kase’s goal ended a streak of 16 straight for Toronto scored by either Matthews, Nylander, Mitchell Marner or John Tavares.
Philadelphia was 0-for-4 on the power play; Toronto was 1-for-3.
“Our power play drained us a little bit of momentum and energy,” Flyers coach Alain Vigneault said. “We weren’t very efficient.”
Keefe said, “I really liked our special teams, penalty-killing was outstanding, and that gives us a lot of life and a lot of chance to keep it out of our net and keep the score down, keep the game manageable as offense was hard to come by.”
Tonight’s lines in Philadelphia#LeafsForever pic.twitter.com/BCyHV1N5rb
— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) November 11, 2021
3 stars tonight #leafsforever #leafs pic.twitter.com/WL2cOZDeQu
— Hockey Nite In Canada (@_Hockey_Night_) November 11, 2021
Will Ny The Scoring Guy!#LeafsForever | @Molson_Canadian pic.twitter.com/key7jjuUNc
— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) November 11, 2021
Jack Campbell made 36 saves to become the first @MapleLeafs goaltender to post a shutout in Philadelphia since Ed Belfour blanked the Flyers on Nov. 29, 2002.#NHLStats: https://t.co/WCypfl530g pic.twitter.com/00Wo9zEXKg
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) November 11, 2021
Ondřej Kaše has registered his 100th career NHL point (45 goals, 55 assists) with a third period goal in Philadelphia tonight.
— Leafs PR (@LeafsPR) November 11, 2021
Maple Leafs forward Kirill Semyonov will make his NHL debut tonight.
— Leafs PR (@LeafsPR) November 11, 2021
The only player in the NHL with more shots than William Nylander this season: Alex Ovechkin.
— Jonas Siegel (@jonassiegel) November 11, 2021