Leafs ready for rematch with Winnipeg

TORONTO — Mike Babcock has been pleased with the overall body of work from Auston Matthews and Patrick Marleau early on this season.

The Maple Leafs head coach also sees plenty of room for improvement.

The duo put up dominant possession numbers at 5-on-5 and were on the ice when linemate Kasperi Kapanen opened the scoring for Toronto in Wednesday’s 4-2 road victory against the Winnipeg Jets that snapped a two-game slide.

But after pucks flew into the net for Matthews during the first two weeks of the schedule — he had seven consecutive multi-point games to top the NHL scoring race — the 21-year-old hasn’t found the scoresheet in his last three outings.

The 39-year-old Marleau has just one point over the last seven.

Kapanen bumped Tyler Ennis off the line with Matthews and Marleau three games into the season to take up the spot reserved for William Nylander whenever the Leafs and the talented restricted free agent finally resolve their contract impasse.

“Those guys are working hard,” Babcock said following Friday’s practice. “They had a real heavy shift when Kappy scored his goal to get us going.”

Despite the 18-year age difference, Matthews and Marleau found instant chemistry away from the rink in the veteran winger’s first season with Toronto in 2017-18. Along with fellow youngster Mitch Marner, Matthews spent a lot of time with the Marleau family and their four boys.

The transition on the ice hasn’t been as seamless — Marleau’s only goal so far through 10 games came on the power play with Matthews on the bench — but the pair feels they’re close to clicking.

“It’s a work in progress,” Marleau, who also has four assists, said earlier this week. “I’ve had a lot of great looks . . . but you always want more.”

“There’s always room to improve,” Matthews said as his team prepared to host Winnipeg in tonight’s rematch. “We want to be dominant every night and every shift. Obviously it’s not going to happen, just the way it goes, but we expect a lot from ourselves and definitely want to take another step.”