At any cost, Leafs are lucky to have Marner
No end to the ways whip-smart winger helps win games
TORONTO — It was a lousy game Tuesday night, in front of a sleepy crowd. The Toronto Maple Leafs weren’t very good, after a decent start. Their goalie saved them, and they won. But on a sleepy night, Mitch Marner was worth the price of admission again; even the Toronto price of admission. Here are snapshots from his evening, or 13 ways of looking at Mitch Marner.
First shift. Off the top the 21-year-old Marner chases down a puck in the Vegas end, slips back up the boards, spins on Shea Theodore and creates about three feet of space, but his backhand pass to John Tavares is broken up. Of Marner’s 14 assists this year, only one was a secondary assist.
Third shift. Toronto’s first power play; Marner creates a shot for Morgan Rielly, and a chance for Patrick Marleau out front. Since he entered the league three years ago, Marner is third in the league in 5-on-4 points per 60 minutes played among those who have played significant minutes. New Jersey’s Taylor Hall, last year’s Hart Trophy winner, is second. Morgan Rielly, actually, is first.
Fourth shift. The Leafs are stuck in their own end, though not dangerously; a Marner pass relieves the pressure. Later, Marner is open in front but Zach Hyman’s pass is a tumbleweed, and Marner can’t corral it. He falls down trying, though.
Fifth shift. The puck is in the Leafs zone. It slides to Marner on the left boards, slowly. He notes William Karlsson is following it. Marner waits, cool. The puck settles on the outside of his left skate, and Karlsson is on his right. He lets Karlsson hit him, half-turns to protect the puck, and as Karlsson tries to come around, Marner spins back up ice and creates space to slip a neat pass to Ron Hainsey before Jonathan Marchessault arrives to bump him. The pressure vanishes. It’s like he watched the play happen in slow motion.
Sixth shift. Marner takes the puck from Vegas Golden Knights defenceman Colin Miller, swings out to the blue line and does a tour — past Max Pacioretty, past Brayden McNabb behind the net, and threads the puck between two Vegas defenders across the ice to Tavares. The shot is stopped.
Eighth shift. The Leafs are rushing and Marner slides to his right to create space. Tavares finds Marner in the slot, and the shot whips across his body, beating Marc-André Fleury high blocker side for a 2-0 lead. Marner now has one more career point than the injured Auston Matthews, though in 19 more games. Marner led the Leafs with 69 points last season. He is playing three minutes more per game this year, and is on pace for 104.
“That’s something that I really worked on, just coming across the middle and trying to get that puck off quickly and get it to the net,” Marner said earlier this year. “Try to make myself more of a shooter than a passer so people don’t have a clue what’s going to happen ... it’s been getting better.”
After the faceoff Marner breaks up a pass near the Toronto blue line and chases it down the ice, gassed at the end of a 90-second shift; Theodore catches him, and sweeps it away at the last second.
Ninth shift. Tired at the end of another long shift, Marner takes a hooking penalty.
10th shift. Marner lifts the stick of Reilly Smith on a backcheck and sends the puck the other way; at the other end he pressures Theodore in the corner, and misses Andreas Johnsson — or Nazem Kadri? — on a pass in front. Close. The whole second period is a Vegas push, so every puck sent the other way matters.
14th shift. After a giveaway and then a controlled zone entry, Marner is thrown into the boards by Miller, comes out of a corner and fires a spinning backhand. Pad save. Seventeen of Marner’s 48 shots this season have come in the four games without the injured Matthews.
18th shift. The Leafs are holding on, killing time. Marner backchecks to break up a Karlsson-to-Marchessault pass, and tips another puck away from Brad Hunt. Later in the shift, he jumps knees first onto the boards at the bench to avoid the puck as it goes by, and a too-many-men call. Smart. It’s funny.
20th shift. Marner gets checked into the goal by Miller, kept in the goal by Miller, and then bumped to the ice by Miller. Marner is listed at six foot and
175 pounds, 10 pounds above his rookie weight, and out of uniform you can see the muscle he has layered onto his still boyish frame. Marner gets up smiling, and chewing his mouthpiece.
21st shift. It’s 2-1, and Marner pushes the play. He finds Tavares, but Tavares is offside. He grabs a puck inside the Vegas blue line and swerves between Alex Tuch and Theodore to get a shot off. Later Marner takes a puck inside the Toronto blue line, skates and dangles, drops the puck to Tavares at the Vegas blue line and continues on with his stick out, looking back. Tavares finds him, and Marner gets to the front of the net, where he is stopped again.
On TSN, Ray Ferraro nails it. “He always feels like there’s a play.”
And at the very end, Hyman sprawls and gets a pass across and Fleury has to dive out to keep it from Marner. At the end Marner is standing in front of the Vegas goal as time runs out on a game Toronto had no business winning, but did. Marner chews his mouthpiece, and he’s done for the night. He spent too much time in his own end; he scored the winner, and nearly created more. Whatever he costs, they’re lucky to have him.