The Toronto Maple Leafs extended their points streak to four games in a 3-2 shootout loss to the Philadelphia Flyers at Scotiabank Arena on Saturday, but their comeback and the performances of goalie Frederik Andersen and forward William Nylander took a backseat to concerns over the injury to Mitch Marner, who fell awkwardly after tripping on the stick of Flyers forward Carsen Twarynski and struggled to get to the bench.
Marner attempted to return a couple times, but fell during a Leafs power play and was hastened back to the Toronto dressing room after testing out his injured leg during a TV timeout. Leafs head coach Mike Babcock said after the game that Marner would not accompany the team to Chicago, where they take on the Blackhawks on Sunday and that the severity of the injury is not known.
“What are you going to do? It's hockey, injuries happen and you find out more about other guys.” Babcock said. “I don't know the extent of this. I don't know if it's a few days or weeks or whatever. There's no sense on dwelling on it. Someone else gets an opportunity. Let's go.”
TSN’s Darren Dreger reported that Marner is scheduled for an MRI on Sunday to determine the extent of the injury, but in the short term veteran Jason Spezza may be inserted in the lineup against the Hawks, who also lost 3-2 in a shootout to the Pittsburgh Penguins.
“Obviously, it's not something we want to happen. (Mitch is) such a big part of our team, plays a very significant role and makes great plays.” Marner linemate and Leafs captain John Tavares said. “I thought the group responded well and had every opportunity to win it. Hopefully it's nothing very serious and he's back as soon as he can.”
Toronto once again struggled early, allowed the opening goal for the 13th time in 18 games and fell behind 2-0 after 20 minutes on goals by Phillipe Myers and Oscar Lindblom, but responded with a goal midway through the middle frame as Nylander set up Travis Dermott for his first goal of the season and tied the game early in the third on a great pass by Auston Matthews.
Andersen and Flyers goalie Brian Ellliott were both stingy on the night, but the Leafs goaltender once again was chiefly responsible for his club earning at least a point, make 13 stops in the third period to get to overtime.
“I just try to be good with my depth and try to read the play a little bit more and be a little bit deeper,” Andersen said. “We've been playing better and better. I don't think we had the best start tonight, but obviously we got better as we went on and we were able to get a point out of it.”
Backup Michael Hutchinson will make his fifth start of the season and see his first action since October 26th in Montreal in the second of back-to-back games, while Robin Lehner will go for Chicago after Corey Crawford got the loss in Pittsburgh on Saturday.
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