High stakes as improving Maple Leafs, Flyers face off in Philadelphia

When comparing the Maple Leafs and Flyers for Thursday’s game, think of Rocky, the titular character in the classic boxing movie, at the halfway point up the Philadelphia Art Museum steps in training for his big bout.

The teams are separated by four points, the higher Flyers and their rebuild showing progress to end five fruitless playoff springs. The Leafs with a seven-game point streak that, to a degree, has quieted critics calling to blow up their roster before Christmas.

Why this game matters for both teams heading into Xfinity Mobile Arena:

LEAFS HAVE STRUGGLED ON THE ROAD

The most recent time the Leafs made the playoffs with fewer than 10 regulation road wins was in the 1980s, under a forgiving format in a mostly stagnant Norris Division.

With just five so far, they’re last in the National Hockey League and, for all the pride they took out of a point in Detroit on a back-to-back Dec. 28, four of their wins in white sweaters all came in one late November trip. Other than beating the Flyers 5-2 on Nov. 1, that’s all folks.

That Philly game was noteworthy for Easton Cowan’s first NHL goal, Auston Matthews’s 12th goal in 22 games against the Flyers and defenceman Chris Tanev being stretchered off with an upper-body injury — the first of two major mishaps this season that might not see him return.

Five of the Leafs’ next six games are away, including at league-leading Colorado and playoff-contender Vegas. With six straight regulation wins at home — “we’ve found our rhythm” declared Matthews after defeating Florida on Tuesday — now’s an ideal time to find their road legs.

‘SPECIAL’ RETURN FOR LAUGHTON

After meeting the Flyers in Toronto right after last year’s trade when still a bit disoriented, then injured for the Nov. 1 contest, this will be Scott Laughton’s first time ‘back home’ where he played more than 600 games.

“It’s going to be special,” said Laughton, who’ll likely get some kind of video tribute to highlight his journey from being a 2012 first-round pick. “I have some family going down and a ton of friends who’ll be at the game.”

Leafs general manager Brad Treliving has taken heat for making the Laughton trade, which cost a conditional first-rounder in 2027 and forward prospect Nikita Grebenkin.

While Grebenkin has 10 points in 29 games and the draft cupboard is nearly bare from the deals for Laughton and defenceman Brandon Carlo, such is always the price of an inflated trade deadline market for buyers.

Laughton, with 50% of his salary retained by the Flyers, had a disappointing two assists in 13 playoff games last spring. Yet, since returning from this season’s injury, has been a large part of an improved checking game on a line with Steven Lorentz, while helping the faceoff percentage and penalty killing stay at or near the top of the league.

Coach Craig Berube, whose modus operandi through his NHL term includes re-assigning top-six forwards to key defensive roles, hasn’t really shaken things up with big-name Leafs in that vein, but seems to have found a willing subject in Laughton.

NO HANG-UPS ON TREVOR ZEGRAS

The Flyers are quite happy with the return on another major deal, acquiring centre Trevor Zegras, their current leading scorer.

He’s coming off a revenge game Tuesday against Anaheim when he scored twice, in one celly pretending to hang up a phone to mimic what he claimed was a cold, dismissive trade call by the Ducks in June.

Anaheim GM Pat Verbeek must have had doubts about Zegras as a building block, but prodded by new head coach Rick Tocchet, the 24-year-old has become the fan favourite on and off the ice.

The Ducks received Ryan Poehling (14 points in 36 games), a second-round pick last year (Michigan State forward Eric Nilson) and a fourth this coming June.

BROTHERLY LOVE IN COACHES CORNER

Both Berube and Tocchet have played and coached the storied Flyers and would endorse a Broad Street Bully bench axiom that goes back through Ken Hitchcock, Paul Holmgren and Mike Keenan all the way to Fred Shero: “Arrive first to the puck — and in ill humour.”

Certainly, getting back to that aggressive forecheck has sparked much of the turnaround in Leafs fortunes, or at least kept them in the wild-card hunt at the schedule’s mid-point.

“We’re forcing teams into bad turnovers,” Berube noted recently. “Offensively, we’re connected, whether it’s on the rush or a play where we’re driving to the net pretty well.

“We have a good F3 all the time, we’re delivering pucks, using our points, we’re at the net all the time. It’s a combination that puts you in the right spot to score goals.”

lhornby@postmedia.com

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