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TORONTO (Ticker) -- The
Philadelphia Flyers
sent quite a message to the
Toronto Maple Leafs
this weekend but lost their top defenseman in the process.
Michal Handzus
posted his first two-goal game of the season and
Robert Esche
made 34 saves as the Flyers concluded a home-and-home sweep of the
Maple Leafs
with a 4-0 victory.
After defeating Toronto at home on Friday, Esche got all the support he needed when tough guy
Todd Fedoruk
ended an 86-game goalless drought midway through the first period.
Just two minutes later, the Flyers lost
Eric Desjardins
indefinitely. The defenseman suffered a broken right forearm when teammate
Jeremy Roenick
missed Toronto captain
Mats Sundin
with a check and inadvertently collided with him.
"That hurts," said Flyers captain
Keith Primeau
, who returned from a broken thumb Friday. "Rico's our most consistent and strongest defenseman. He plays the most minutes. It's a huge void."
Handzus scored second-period goals around a tally by Roenick, who returned from a one-game suspension. Celebrating his 34th birthday, Roenick sat out Friday's 4-1 triumph for throwing a water bottle at an official in Wednesday's loss at Buffalo.
"The win was a great birthday present for me," he said. "The suspension took a lot out of me mentally. When I flap my mouth like I have the last couple of days, it takes a lot out of me physically. ... Sometimes my frustrations get the better of me."
Esche turned aside 12 shots in the first period, 13 in the second and nine in the third for his second shutout of the season and seventh of his career.
"Our team was up for these two games against Toronto," Esche said. "We were looking forward to this series for weeks, even months. ... I think as a goalie, you know when it's your night and when it's not. Tonight happened to be my night."
The Flyers, who pulled into a tie with Toronto atop the Eastern Conference, have won all three meetings this season, outscoring the
Maple Leafs
, 15-2.
Philadelphia coach Ken Hitchcock downplayed the accomplishment.
"This team isn't even the
Toronto Maple Leafs
we're playing right now," he said. "They're missing four impact hockey players. They've done a remarkable job so far, they've been competitive as heck."
Fedoruk was credited with his first goal since October 17, 2002 at 9:22 of the first period. The bruising winger came out from behind the net and lost control of the puck, only to have
Ric Jackman
knock it between the pads of goaltender
Ed Belfour
.
Another miscue by a
Maple Leafs
defenseman led to the Flyers' second tally.
Mark Recchi
stole the puck from
Bryan McCabe
at the left side of the net and threw it in front.
John LeClair
's shot was kicked away by Belfour, but Handzus buried the rebound for his ninth goal.
"Every mistake we made seemed to go into our net," Toronto left wing
Gary Roberts
said. "Obviously, we're not doing enough defensively to win hockey games. We've got to get back to doing the things we were doing a month ago that made us successful."
Philadelphia sealed its fifth straight win over Toronto with power-play goals 2:01 apart. Roenick banked a shot off Belfour's right skate at 12:41 and Handzus completed his fourth career two-goal effort by deflecting defenseman
Kim Johnsson
's shot from the right point.
"JR makes a big impact offensively for us," Primeau said. "It's great to have him back."
Belfour stopped 20 shots for the Leafs, who have lost four of their last five and lead second-place Ottawa by just one point in the Northeast Division.
"It's a concern but not too much," Sundin said. "There are a lot of teams right around us now in the standings. We just haven't played good enough to beat the top teams."
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