Agencies/Toronto
WELL DONE: Montreal Canadiens’ P K Subban celebrates his goal with teammates Andrei Markov (L) and Erik Cole (R) against the Vancouver Canucks during the third period of their NHL hockey game in Vancouver, British Columbia
Claude Giroux’s move in the shootout was so good Ilya Bryzgalov was glad he was on his team.
Giroux scored the only goal in the shootout and Bryzgalov made 29 saves for his third shutout in the past four games, lifting the Philadelphia Flyers to a 1-0 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday night. Giroux borrowed Pavel Datsyuk’s signature move to beat Jonas Gustavsson in the tiebreaker. He made a gorgeous deke before lifting the puck into the top of the net. “It’s not fair,” Bryzgalov said. “He did it a couple times (in practice), I saw that. But he cannot do that in a game. It’s unreal.” Added teammate Scott Hartnell: “That was dirty.” Bryzgalov made his 11th straight start in goal for Philadelphia. His biggest save came on a Phil Kessel breakaway in overtime. He also denied the Leafs forward in the shootout to preserve the victory.
“We knew it was just a matter of time before he stepped up his game and played like (the guy) we signed for nine years and big money,” Hartnell said. “He’s a big money player and it’s good for him to get going right now. And hopefully that continues in the playoffs.”
Gustavsson made 27 saves for his fourth shutout of the season for the Maple Leafs, who have dropped seven straight home games.
“It felt like we took one step in the right direction tonight,” he said. Toronto is six points back of the eighth-place Capitals in the Eastern Conference heading into Sunday’s game at Washington. Defenseman Mike Komisarek said it’s the biggest game of the year.
In a tight-checking game, the Maple Leafs had only 15 shots on goal through the first two periods, but Bryzgalov had to be sharp on a couple of plays.