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There’s no rule in the National Hockey League for running the clock.
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Had there been, it might have kicked in on Tuesday night at Scotiabank Arena.
The Maple Leafs had their way with the Philadelphia Flyers, trouncing the visitors 7-2 after carrying a four-goal lead into the third period. The Broad Street Bullies, these aren’t. Philadelphia had just 11 shots on goal through 40 minutes and finished with 19 on Leafs goalie Anthony Stolarz.
Led by the line of John Tavares, William Nylander and Bobby McMann, who combined for 10 points, the Leafs beat the Flyers for the 11th in the past 12 meetings.
There should have been no surprise with the result, as the Flyers are 24 points below the Leafs in the overall NHL standings and will miss the Stanley Cup playoffs for the fifth year in a row.
The Leafs, meanwhile, pulled back into a tie for first place in the Atlantic Division with the Florida Panthers. Both teams are 43-25-3 for 89 points.
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It was the second time the Leafs scored seven goals in a game this season. They did it previously on Jan. 18 in a 7-3 win against the Canadiens in Montreal.
Nylander scored two goals to equal his career-high of 40, a milestone he reached in each of the past two seasons, and also had two assists. It was Nylander’s first four-point game since January 2023 as he came within a point of equalling his career-high of five.
The only other NHL player with at least 40 goals is the Edmonton Oilers’ Leon Draisaitl, who has 49.
Nylander also became the fourth player in Leafs history to have three consecutive 40-goal seasons, joining Auston Matthews (five), Lanny McDonald (three) and Rick Vaive (three).
Tavares scored two more goals, giving him five in the past three games and 31 on the season. Tavares also had two assists for his first four-point night since February 2023.
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McMann was set up by Nylander for his 20th goal of 2024-25.
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And David Kampf scored on a breakaway, looking as though he had done in it 100 times in the NHL, for the Leafs’ sixth goal on Flyers netminder Samuel Ersson.
Philadelphia opened the scoring in the first period when Ryan Poehling blasted a shot past Stolarz. Late in the second, after the Leafs scored six consecutive goals (including four in the middle period), Flyers captain Sean Couturier tipped a shot past Stolarz.
In the third period, after Morgan Rielly had a goal disallowed because of goalie interference on the part of Mitch Marner, Max Domi scored his seventh.
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