Frederik Andersen, Maple Leafs hold off Flyers

TORONTO-- Tyler Bozak missed the morning skate but scored a goal and had an assist for the Toronto Maple Leafs in a 4-2 win against the Philadelphia Flyers at Air Canada Centre on Thursday.
"I thought that was really impressive to tell you the truth," Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock said. "We didn't know until the last second whether [Bozak] was going or not. Obviously he was able to fight through it. It was, I thought, a real big effort by him, he did a good job."

Frederik Andersen made 36 saves for the Maple Leafs (30-22-14), who have won two in a row after a five-game losing streak.
WATCH: All Flyers vs. Maple Leafs highlights
"I think we did well (in the third period)," Andersen said. "They were going to come and throw everything at us but we got a huge power-play goal."
The Flyers (31-27-8) had gotten a point in each of their prior four games (3-0-1).

The Maple Leafs won two of three games against the Flyers and lead them by four points in the Eastern Conference playoff race.
The Flyers took a 1-0 lead on the power play when Wayne Simmonds deflected a point shot from Shayne Gostisbehere past Andersen at 6:09 of the first period.
William Nylander tied it 1-1 at 13:57 when he put a wrist shot past Michal Neuvirth's glove on a power play from the right faceoff dot.
"I just saw that it was open up top so I just tried to get it there," Nylander said. "If I would have missed, it would have been a good chance for the other team, so I was lucky it went in."

Toronto took a 2-1 lead at 9:28 of the second period when Bozak scored on a wrist shot from the slot.
"We didn't do a good job of executing and getting the puck up the ice," Flyers coach Dave Hakstol said. "They're a good pressure team without the puck and we didn't manage the puck well enough on the go. That cost us some momentum in the second period. There [were] good chances both directions in the second period but they had the better of them."
Mitchell Marner scored at 13:44 of the third period, with an assist from Bozak, on the power play for a 3-1 lead.
The Flyers made it 3-2 with 2:28 left when Gostisbehere shot past Andersen's blocker from right faceoff dot.

"You're down by a goal so you want to come out with a push," Hakstol said. "We got that in the second half of the third period, but obviously we didn't get the job done."
Nazem Kadri scored into an empty net with 1:00 left.

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Goal of the game

Bozak carried the puck into the slot and put a wrist shot high to Neuvirth's blocker side for his 16th goal of the season.

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Saves of the game

Andersen stopped Brayden Schenn at 9:10 of the second period. The rebound went into the slot, but Andersen made a second save on Michael Del Zotto to keep the score tied 1-1. Bozak scored to give the Maple Leafs the lead 18 seconds later.
"Every save can make a difference in the game, and sometimes those momentum swings can help you in the right way and it did today," Andersen said. "It's always fun to make those saves and see the guys go down and score right after."

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Highlight of the game

Marner scored on a shot from the right faceoff circle.

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Unsung performance of the game

Maple Leafs forward Zach Hyman got his stick on an attempted shot from Jakub Voracek at 16:00 of the first period to break up what looked like a sure goal into a wide-open net.

They said it

"I didn't mind it because it kind of takes your mind off the game and you really think about other stuff like your body. I wasn't thinking too much about who we were playing or what was going to happen. I was just kind of focusing on myself; I think it's important to just focus on what you can do out there and how you play and the rest will take care of itself." -- Maple Leafs forward Tyler Bozak, who has a minor injury
"It's great. Obviously he made a lot of big saves for us, but we have to stop relying on him so much. We have to be better in our own zone sometimes, but he's there for us, for sure, and that's nice to know." -- Maple Leafs forward Mitchell Marner on Frederik Andersen
"It's frustrating; it wasn't our best game but we did a lot of good things. We just have to be better. We can't be thinking about the big picture. We have to go one game at a time. It's pretty upsetting right now. We needed that win and it just wasn't good enough." -- Flyers captain Claude Giroux

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Need to know

Nylander tied the Maple Leafs rookie record with his ninth power-play goal, joining Dan Daoust, Walt Poddubny and Alexander Steen.

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What's next

Flyers: At the Boston Bruins on Saturday (1 p.m. ET; NHLN, SN360, NESN, CSN-PH, NHL.TV)
Maple Leafs: At the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; CBC, FS-CR, NHL.TV)