Maple Leafs Ground Flyers, 3-1

TORONTO —  Like most captains, Mats Sundin attempted to deflect the attention to his teammates.

The Toronto Maple Leafs begged to differ, giving him all the credit for leading them to a 3-1 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on Friday night.

“He’s definitely one of the best players I’ve ever played with, and he shows up for big games every time,” Leaf goaltender Ed Belfour said.

“He’s huge for us all the time,” Bryan McCabe said. “He was our leader tonight, and everyone else followed.”

Sundin scored twice and had a chance to add a few more, in helping Toronto win its second in a row to even the best-of-seven, second-round playoff series at 2-2. Game 5 is Sunday at Philadelphia.

Not bad for someone who was playing his third game after being sidelined for four because of a leg injury.

“It felt good,” Sundin said. “There’s nothing that bothers me with my skating so, for sure, a lot better.”

That was particularly evident on Sundin’s second goal that gave Toronto a 2-1 lead 7:45 into the second period.

Carrying the puck up the right side, Sundin cut to the middle catching Flyer defender Vladimir Malakhov flat-footed. Kicking the puck to his stick, Sundin then threaded a back-hander, beating Robert Esche through the legs.

Darcy Tucker also scored, and Gary Roberts had two assists for Toronto, which bounced back after losing the first two games at Philadelphia.

Belfour stopped 28 shots to record his 88th playoff victory, moving him into a tie for third place with former New York Islander great Billy Smith on the all-time list.

The Leafs have won five in a row at home, the first time they’ve done that in a postseason since winning five in a row in 1976.

Simon Gagne scored for Philadelphia, which continued to look flat after a 4-1 loss in Game 3 on Wednesday and played nothing like the team that opened the postseason by winning six of its first seven.

“They’re getting production from key people,” Flyer Coach Ken Hitchcock said. “If we’re going to win the series, we’re going to have to get the same production from our key people.”

Mark Recchi, who led the Flyers with 75 points in the regular season, took responsibility for the team’s lack of production on offense.

“You can’t come into another team’s building and score two goals,” Recchi said. “That’s part of my responsibility. I take a lot of the heat for that. I know I’ve got to be a lot better offensively.”

Gagne’s goal, which opened the scoring 7:44 minutes in, came on a gift after McCabe muffed a pass in front of his net.

The bounces went Toronto’s way when Sundin tied it 10 minutes later, his shot deflecting in off the leg of Flyer defender Marcus Ragnarsson.

It was Sundin’s first two-goal playoff game since he scored twice against New Jersey in the 2001 Eastern Conference semifinals.

Sundin had a chance for a third goal, hitting the crossbar on a breakaway with 20 seconds left in the second.

“Sometimes you have too much time to think,” Sundin said, shaking his head. “I wish I had that one back.”

Tucker secured the victory, deflecting in McCabe’s shot from the point for a power-play goal 2:19 into the third.

Toronto has scored seven goals in its last two games after managing only 16 in their first nine playoff outings.