Maple Leafs' Jake McCabe hits head on ice during fight with Flyers' Garnet Hathaway

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Toronto defenceman Jake McCabe was a casualty of renewed nastiness between the Maple Leafs and Philadelphia Flyers on Sunday night, leaving the game with a suspected head injury.  

Angered when Philly’s Garnet Hathaway bumped his netminder Dennis Hildeby late in the first period and was being called for interference, McCabe followed up on a hit by pushing the fallen Flyer forward to the ice. When the taller Hathaway got up, he took McCabe’s offer to escalate the feud and McCabe’s head hit the ice as both went down swinging in the ensuing fight.  

Hathaway skated away, but as teammates attended to McCabe he appeared groggy and couldn’t sit up for a moment. He was eventually able to skate to the dressing room under his own power, but the Leafs announced he would not return with an upper-body injury. 

McCabe, who had just scored his first goal of the season the night before against Boston, missed four games in early December when he was struck in the head after a shot from Tampa Bay’s Nick Perbix.

Leaf coach craig Berube said after the gane that he wouldn’t have an update on McCabe until Monday morning before a two-game road trip, but added: “I didn’t like what I saw (from Hathaway, starting the chain of events). He (McCabe) is sticking up for his team. We all appreciate that.”

The Maple Leafs persevered without key defenceman McCabe, winning the game 3-2 in overtime for their second victory of the weekend after besting the Bruins 6-4 on Saturday night.

Next up for Toronto is a rematch with the Flyers in Philadelphia on Tuesday night.

lhornby@postmedia.com

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