The Toronto Maple Leafs ended their five game losing streak with a 3-2 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers at Wells Fargo Center on Tuesday, thanks to the goaltending of James Reimer and offensive contributions from unlikely sources.
Defenseman Roman Polak scored his first goal of the season midway through the first after Philadelphia had dominated early and scored the opening goal on the power play. Toronto dominated the middle frame and had a go-ahead goal from Peter Holland negated by video review for an offside call, but scored again late in the second on Joffrey Lupul’s 10th goal of the season.
The goal was only Lupul’s second goal in the last 16 games after returning from a lower body injury in mid-December after starting the season with eight goals in 23 games playing on a checking line.
Rookie defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere scored his eighth of the season to tie the game with seven minutes left in the third on an impressive individual effort, but Matt Hunwick won it for Toronto with his first goal of the season with 7.5 seconds left in regulation.
The victory highlighted a number of players who will likely be traded by the Leafs before the league’s February 29th deadline and in front of scouts for 8 NHL teams, including the Calgary Flames, San Jose Sharks, Dallas Stars and Chicago Blackhawks.
Reimer made 31 saves for the victory and continues to put impressive numbers. The 27-year-old now has the highest save percentage (.934) of any goalie with over 20 games played and an over .500 record (8-7-4) for a team in second last in the NHL standings.
The potential of getting a good return for Reimer in a trade may have increased on Wednesday, with the news that Carolina’s Cam Ward has been placed on injured reserve with concussion issues. The 31-year-old is also an unrestricted free agent and was expected to be a target for teams looking for a veteran stop gap for the stretch run if the Canes dropped out of playoff contention.
Reimer’s performance and the recent contract signing of Cam Talbot by Edmonton to a three year, $12.5 Million contract may make the Morweena, Manitoba native too pricey to re-sign and valuable enough to get a significant prospect or draft pick in a trade.
Polak scored, played nearly 21 minutes, led the Leafs with four blocked shots and displayed his usual rough and tumble style that probably has playoff-bound clubs drooling. The 29-year-old is a right-hand shot and has a cap hit that many contending teams can fit in, which should make the bidding war for his services quite brisk.
PA Parenteau should have scored his 12th goal of the season if not for the stick of defenseman Yevgeni Medvedev preventing the puck from going over the goal line, but set up Hunwick for the game-winner late in regulation. The 32-year-old has 11 goals and 12 assists and a salary of $1.5 Million, which again will be attractive for offensively starved clubs who cannot take on a big ticket.
Shawn Matthias also put in a fine effort and led Toronto with five shots on goal in nearly 20 minutes of ice time. With the injury to James van Riemsdyk, the Toronto native has been placed in more of a scoring role and has one goal and one assist in the last four games.
Teams looking for a versatile forward who can provide size and play both center and wing are likely to be inquiring about Matthias in the next five weeks.
#Leafs prospect JJ Piccinich & Mitch Marner combine for a goal 16 secs in. (I say that Marner pass was intentional.) https://t.co/OnyqYSvMUF
— Kathryn Jean (@msconduct) January 20, 2016TSN's Darren Dreger believes it is unlikely that Toronto will be shopping defenseman Dion Phaneuf prior to the trade deadline or that the Leafs team captain would waive his no trade clause.
The Detroit Red Wings and Los Angeles Kings had interest in the 30-year-old defenseman prior to last year's trade deadline and Dreger indicated on TSN 1050 Radio Wednesday that Phaneuf would have been more open to being moved out of Toronto last summer, but enjoys playing under head coach Mike Babcock and getting him to agree to a move would be "a challenge".
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