Marner comes to life against Kings
TORONTO 3 LOS ANGELES 2
TORONTO — Matt Martin thinks his offensive statistics might skyrocket just by having a new linemate.
Mitch Marner played on Toronto’s fourth line for the third straight game and set up two goals, including one from Martin, as the Maple Leafs handed the Los Angeles Kings their first regulation-time loss of the season with a 3-2 victory on Monday.
“He’s one of the elite playmakers in the league so it’s a good opportunity for me and [Dominic Moore] right now to try and get some offence,” said Martin.
“We’ll ride this as long as we can.”
Marner struggled to produce early in the season with his regular linemates Tyler Bozak and James van Riemsdyk after scoring 19 goals and 61 points in 77 games as a rookie, leading to him being replaced on Toronto’s second line by Connor Brown.
He entered Monday with just one goal in eight games but was Toronto’s best player against the Kings, according to his coach.
“We need him to be a star, we think he’s a star,” said Mike Babcock.
“The NHL is a hard league when it doesn’t go your way and the other thing about the league is when someone gets in your spot and they play real good, that makes it hard for you. I thought he was excellent tonight, I thought that line was good, I thought Matt Martin was a good player for us.”
Marner’s effort led to the game’s opening goal 5:46 into the contest. He curled behind the net before teeing up Polak for a onetimer from the blue line that Martin deflected past Jonathan Quick from the top of the crease.
“Everyone is scared of [Martin] when that guy’s coming full speed at you on the forecheck,” said Marner.
“We kind of talked about that before the game, just let him be the animal he is in deep. It worked out. He made some great plays out there to get me the puck and it went our way.”
Quick took an errant elbow from teammate Derek Forbort with 2:59 remaining in the first and clutched his head briefly, but continued on.
With 1:11 to go in the period, however, Quick was forced off the ice for concussion protocol by the league spotter. He returned at the next whistle without going to the locker room, though, only visiting with the team trainer in the tunnel to the room. He missed just 36 seconds of game action while replaced by Darcy Kuemper.
The situation confused many, including Kings head coach John Stevens, who said the league did a second review and rescinded their mandatory evaluation.
“Everybody was just doing what they were told,” said Stevens. “In the end, we wanted to put Johnny back in but [the refs] deemed him an injured player and he had to come out for one play.
“Quite honestly we want to ask the league because it was a little disruptive.”
William Nylander drew a penalty that turned into a 2-0 Toronto lead only eight seconds into a power play when Bozak jammed home a rebound with 5:15 to play in the second.