Maple Leafs’ Berube highlights standout games from Laughton, Cowan, Hildeby after win vs. Flyers

Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube is witnessing his team turn the corner in 2026, and highlighted several individual performances, following a 2-1 overtime victory over the Philadelphia Flyers.

Easton Cowan registered the overtime winner, converting a feed from John Tavares. Cowan continues to be one of the Leafs’ impact forwards during his rookie season, and Berube lauded the 20-year-old following Thursday’s victory.

“I thought he was having a really good game, so I wanted to use him in OT,” Berube of Cowan, post-game. “I thought he was on top of things all night,  making plays, making strong plays, and skating well. He was going to be in the picture at three-on-three, and he ended up getting it done.”

Cowan almost scored earlier in the overtime period, but was stopped on a breakaway by Flyers goaltender Dan Vladar. The real story of the game was Scott Laughton, who notched the game-tying goal during the third period. Laughton scored short-handed against a Flyers team, where he spent his entire career, prior to being acquired by the Leafs at last year’s deadline.

“Scotty was really good again. He did a great job on the 5-on-3, as everybody did, and when penalty killing. He had a solid game. It was great to see him get that shorty against his old team,” Berube said.

Laughton won 19-of-20 faceoffs, while excelling on the penalty kill. Toronto now boasts the third-best penalty kill in the NHL, in large part due to Laughton’s spatial intelligence and defensive acumen.

Dennis Hildeby was also terrific in goal for the Leafs. Hildeby made 22 stops in the winning effort, including breakaway saves on Denver Barkey and Trevor Zegras.

“I thought he looked really good right away. In the first period, probably around the 10-minute mark on, they carried a little bit of the play, but he was really solid in there. He kept it at 0-0 for us. He was good tonight.”

Toronto has gathered points in eight consecutive games and will look to continue its recent form against the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday.