Rielly scores much-needed goal to seal overtime victory for Maple Leafs

Last game, there was nobody on the ice who needed a goal more than Matthew Knies. He responded with his first career hat trick complemented by two assists for a five-point night against the Boston Bruins. On Sunday night, Morgan Rielly had his turn to bust a slump, and he did so with an overtime-winning goal to take a 3-2 victory against the Flyers.

It was the fourth win in a row for the Maple Leafs, who took a crucial two points from their Atlantic Division rival Boston Bruins on Saturday night and added two more big points to give them sole possession of first place in the division. The Maple Leafs haven’t held sole possession of the top seed at the halfway mark of the season since the 2020-21 North Division year, and one would hope that they’ve learned some valuable lessons since then.

Rielly is one of those players that can be considered an on-and-off scapegoat. In calling him that, I’m not saying he’s free from criticism. He makes $7.5 million annually and got paid for his offensive instincts and value to the dressing room, so when he’s struggling to string points together like he has so far this season (19 in 41 games), people are right to ask for more.

Heading into Sunday night’s game, he was pointless in his last seven games, and the chatter in the media circle was growing louder. But after jumping into the rush in overtime and getting a pass from Auston Matthews with all the time and space in the world, he placed a perfect wrist shot past Flyers netminder Ivan Fedotov and scored the most important goal of the game.