Maple Leafs report cards: Rielly redeems himself, Hildeby helps shut down Flyers

By / / Sports / 6 minutes of reading


The first half of the Toronto Maple Leafs’ regular season is officially over, and the team ended it on a winning note.

It wasn’t an impressive or glamorous win, as the Maple Leafs were outplayed for much of the night by the Philadelphia Flyers, but a 3-2 overtime win on the second leg of a back-to-back is nothing to sneeze at.

Morgan Rielly provided the overtime winner after struggling for most of the night, Matthew Knies stayed hot, Oliver Ekman-Larsson gave the one-handed poke that works so well for Auston Matthews a try to get his second goal of the season, and despite an ugly early goal Dennis Hildeby had a standout night to ensure that’s all the Maple Leafs needed.

We’ll call it a B- effort with the caveat that the margin between the victory and a dispiriting loss was extremely thin.

Unit grades

L1 (Matthew Knies — Auston Matthews — Mitch Marner): B

The top line couldn’t replicate its magic from Saturday night, but five goals and 13 points probably wasn’t a fair expectation. Instead, the group collaborated on a single goal as Knies got the team on the board.

Knies also threw his body around with five hits, Matthews led the Maple Leafs with three shots and Marner had a couple of high-quality chances in the third. The line generally got worse as the game went on, but its early offence and lack of notable defensive blunders make for a solid grade.

L2 (Max Pacioretty — John Tavares — William Nylander): D

This trio had vastly different nights individually. Pacioretty had a loud physical night, taking and delivering big hits. Tavares, on the other hand, was deathly quiet in all facets of the game, although he managed a second assist on the overtime winner.

Nylander had a brutal evening. His defensive zone turnover led to Philadelphia’s second goal, he struggled to create offence all night and when he had a glorious opportunity alone in front, he didn’t even get a shot off.

These three had an expected goal rate of 15.22 percent in 10:49 at five-on-five.

L3 (Bobby McMann — Max Domi — Nick Robertson): C-

There were times when this group did a solid jump of transitioning the puck through the neutral zone and maintaining offensive zone pressure, but it never seemed to amount to anything.

Philadelphia didn’t get much going in their minutes either, but this group’s most notable contribution to the game was an inadvisable penalty by Domi.

L4 (Connor Dewar —David Kämpf — Steven Lorentz): A

On most nights, the Maple Leafs’ hope for this group is that the scoreboard stays dormant when they’re on the ice.

Against the Flyers, their hard work produced a goal from Ekman-Larsson. Dewar was also extremely close to scoring earlier in the first period.

By the end of the night Toronto had out-attempted the Flyers 13-5 in the fourth line’s minutes.

Defence

Jake McCabe’s unfortunate departure from the game in the first period following a fight with Garnet Hathaway meant a night of pairs getting mixed up, so we’ll go individual here.

Chris Tanev: B+

Tanev lost his partner early but remained effective regardless of who was alongside him.

He also got in shooting lanes with five blocks and picked up a second assist on Toronto’s first goal. The Maple Leafs outshot Philadelphia 10-8 in his five-on-five minutes while every other Toronto defender to play all game was in the red. Tanev navigated the difficult night with his usual combination of steady defending and reliable medium-ambition puck moving.

Morgan Rielly: A-

For the first 62-and-a-half minutes of the game, it was not Rielly’s night.

The veteran defenceman was on the ice for both Flyers goals, and his inability to win a battle at the side of the net with Scott Laughton played a huge role in the second. Philadelphia also outshot Toronto 13-6 in his minutes, and he didn’t acquit himself well on the power play.

He erased a forgettable outing with one wrister from the right side that beat Ivan Fedotov.

We can’t quite get to an ‘A’, but an overtime winner makes up for a lot.

Oliver Ekman-Larsson: B+

One of the reasons Ekman-Larsson appealed to Toronto in the offseason was that he brought scoring ability to a blue line that lacked it in 2023-24.

When Brad Treliving imagined the goals OEL might score in a Maple Leafs uniform, this probably isn’t what he had in mind.

Outside of the goal, Ekman-Larsson gave Toronto 24:24 of ice time, his highest total since Dec. 10.

Philippe Myers: B+

Myers filled the box score more than usual on an effective Sunday with four blocks, five hits, and two shots on goal. He was also tied for the team lead with five shot attempts at five-on-five.

Although he was on the ice for the Flyers’ first goal, he did absolutely nothing wrong on the play. He stuck with his man and helped force a low-percentage shot. It just happened to go in.

Simon Benoit: A

Benoit didn’t have fantastic on-ice numbers but made important contributions throughout the night. The first way was by providing a characteristically physical presence with seven hits — including this doozy.

Perhaps more importantly, he stepped in on PK1 when McCabe went down and formed an extremely effective partnership with Tanev that helped keep the Flyers off the board.

Power play: D

The Maple Leafs had just one opportunity with the man advantage and didn’t have a shot to show for it. That slightly undersells their performance, as they managed four attempts, a couple of which were decent chances.

At the same time, it’s tough to defend the bottom line. If your power play doesn’t force the opposing goaltender to make a single save, it didn’t have a good night.

Penalty kill: A

The Maple Leafs were forced to do 6:00 of penalty killing, and they excelled, holding the Flyers to three shots.

On the first kill, blocks from Benoit and Tanev snuffed out Philadelphia’s best looks, and the Flyers ended their attempt with just one relatively harmless shot on net. The second included better chances against, but the third was another standout kill as both Benoit and Marner had forays up ice, with the latter coming close to scoring a go-ahead goal.

Goaltender (Dennis Hildeby): B+

In the opening minutes, Hildeby looked like a guy who’d played just two pro games since December 15 and had just three NHL games on his resume.

The early goal he allowed to Tyson Foerster wasn’t an abomination, but it was a shot from distance Hildeby had plenty of time to square up to.

To the jumbo Swede’s credit, he turned things around in the immediate aftermath of the goal. By the end of the first, he’d saved 13 of 14 shots, with his glove hand looking particularly sharp.

The second goal was tough to blame on Hildeby as Laughton banged one in from right on the doorstep. Coming into the game Toronto had gotten a .877 save percentage from Hildeby and Matt Murray. This performance should help them feel a little better about what they have behind Joseph Woll right now.

What’s next?

The Maple Leafs head to Philadelphia to face the Flyers at 7 p.m. Tuesday on Sportsnet.

(Photo of Morgan Rielly: John E. Sokolowski / Imagn Images)





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About The Author

Fannie Hogan is a writer and editor who covers lifestyle, books, sports, education, and tech. She's always loved to write—from the time she was a little girl writing stories about talking animals to the day she got her first job as an editor at a lifestyle magazine. Her hobbies include long walks on the beach, running, and taking breaks from work to read a good book.

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