Marner goes to the head of class
There were yuk-yuk shots from the peanut gallery that filtered down to the bench for the 2 p.m. start. “First time you get to play a game that wasn’t before your bedtime!” And: “You’ve got your classmates here, trying to impress them?” The Air Canada Centre was crammed full of screeching youngsters, as season-ticket holders were urged to bring a kid for the Next Century Game.
The audio replay came courtesy of Leafs coach Mike Babcock, who took note of some of those good-natured taunts aimed at Mitch Marner before the puck dropped Tuesday afternoon, following nicely understated 100th anniversary celebrations as the players skated onto the ice in their throwback Toronto Arena jerseys, honouring franchise history.
The pocket-sized, absurdly kid-faced Marner — adolescent spots on his chin — really does not look old enough to be in the big man NHL. Ha-ha. Look who’s laughing now. In arguably the best game of his nascent Leaf-hood, undoubtedly the best period — that opening 20 minutes — Marner unsheathed a corker: a careerhigh four points on a highlight reel goal and three assists.
It was just his third goal of the season, his second since the season opener. The 20-year-old has struggled through months of misery, and had gone 38 days since he last found the back of the net.
He was flying Tuesday. He was a stick of dynamite. He was everywhere, darting and wheeling and digging for pucks — six shots — creating havoc, orchestrating opportunities for a line that collectively put up 11 points in Toronto’s 8-1 stomping of the Hurricanes.
This was the Marner the city fell in love with last season, the Markham-raised pistol who has been in and out of the fourth-line doghouse since October, his playmaking flair and flamboyance crushed while Babcock schooled him on how to play without the puck.
Maybe now Babcock can say: Told you so.
Not just about the hockey education of Marner but the strict structure he’s been attempting to impose on a richly talented team that clearly didn’t much like being shackled.
“I thought Mitch was really good,” Babcock said, stating the obvious. “It was a good night for the guys.
“Leo scored, he hasn’t scored in forever. Mitch scored, he hasn’t scored in forever. Willy scored, he hasn’t scored in forever. Carrick scored, he hasn’t scored in forever.
“Who else?”
Call-up Kasperi Kapanen, for one, unassisted. James van Riemsdyk (franchise goal No. 20,000), Tyler Bozak and Patrick Marleau. A gluttony of goals for the Leafs, who had managed to score only four in their previous four games. They got three on a ferocious power play that had been all limp and mewly.
Marner notched the first of those, bull-heading the puck from inside his own blue line, beating Scott Darling blocker-side. A goal off the rush, mercy me.
His assist on JVR’s team-leading 16th demonstrated an instinctive familiarity betwixt and between linemates who played together all of last year, paddle down on Marner’s shot, huge deflection pounced upon by Bozak, another save, but the puck squirted loose and van Riemsdyk was in his habitual spot in front of the net and tapped it in, 3-1. It was Marner again doing all the spade work behind the net to retain control on the next goal, cutting out front, the puck actually rolling off his stick and a thank-you-verymuch blast from Bozak, who could only laugh, so easily did he profit off the play for his seventh.
“It was awesome,” Bozak said of Marner’s stellar performance. “I think him getting that goal got a lot of his confidence back. He’s obviously a really good player when he’s confident.
“Everyone always talks about how big and strong you have to be to make moves in the corner and get away from guys. But with his speed and his agility, he knows how to use his body and get open and find ways to beat guys. You can be on the receiving end of a lot of those plays by him.”
Bang-bang-bang, just like in the good old days of, um, 2016-17.
“We’ve had a lot of chemistry,” Marner said of his resurrected line. “Before this we had a lot of bounces that just didn’t go our way. We’ve all had chances. But James was the only putting ’em in the net.”
JVR bubbled with enthusiasm for Marner’s smashing breakthrough. “Just the way he can move and the different positions he can get on his edges and still have good balance and control. Makes it real hard to play against him, makes him really elusive. That’s when he can control the pace of play when he’s out there.
Van Riemsdyk took more pleasure from Marner’s explosion in a rare afternoon match than his own goal, historic as it was. “He’s a guy who wants to be successful, who wants to produce. He takes pride in that. It’s all about just making the right play. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a goal. He’s always making good plays and good passes.”
Whatever he was feeling inside — and we think he was turning boyish cartwheels in his head — Marner was measured in his comments afterwards. “I just felt like I was skating. I think the whole line was skating in general. We were creating chances for each other.”
The yin-yang-yowsa of a troika that has been reconstituted following extensive experimentation by Babcock.
“We were getting above the puck a lot, especially when the other team got it,” Marner explained to a crush of reporters, words and approach that doubtless will delight his coach. “If we want to be successful, that’s what we’ve got to do.”
Entering the offensive zone with speed was key, and we haven’t seen a lot of that lately.
“We were just cycling the puck well,” Marner continued. “When we were getting chances, we were moving our feet. Guys were getting open and going to the net. Especially our line, that’s what we want to get back to. We want to be a team that pushes the pace.’’
Marner wants to put that protracted scoring slump behind him. The frustration, he claims, was more in the eye of the beholder.
“I’m always easy, joking around and having fun. That’s just the way I’ve grown up being. The guys in this locker room, we all have that in us. We all keep it really light with each other.’’
The well media-groomed lad that he is, Marner gave chops to the organization for putting on an enjoying birthday bash event. Rocked the retro sweaters, too. “It’s pretty wicked to wear those jerseys.”
“The whole atmosphere today was a lot of fun,” he said, appreciative of the rollicking crowd. “I’m glad we gave them a good game to watch.”
More please.