Rielly at the fore of NHL rearguards

Leafs defenceman is first to 40 points after big night vs. Florida Morgan Rielly’s passing has been a key part of the Leafs’ power play.

The passes started clicking. The pucks started going into the net. The Maple Leafs’ power play went a remarkable 3-for-3.

And its quarterback, Morgan Rielly, had himself a four-point night against the Florida Panthers on Thursday.

“He just looks really confident out there,” said Leafs centre Auston Matthews, who also had a four-point night. “I think he’s just doing his thing. He’s skating the puck, he’s been really good on the power play, he sees the ice well and he gets up on the play, even in the offensive zone.

“He’s been fun to watch and fun to play with all year. You want to continue to see that from him.”

It’s not an official scoring race, but Rielly is leading it regardless.

He’s the first NHL defenceman to reach 40 points this season, four points up on Ottawa’s Thomas Chabot. The last Leafs blueliner to lead NHL defencemen in scoring was Jimmy Thomson in 1947-48.

“(Rielly is) a good player,” Leafs coach Mike Babcock said. “We’ve talked about it before, he thinks he’s in Moose Jaw again now. He’s goes out there, he’s good, he’s having fun.”

When the coach talks about a player looking like he’s in junior, it’s a compliment. It means the game is coming easy to the player.

It’s been that kind of year for Rielly, who has emerged as a Norris Trophy candidate. He is 12 points shy of his career high in points with more than half the season to go, and he is scoring at a rate of 1.14 points per game.

Only two defencemen in franchise history required fewer games to hit 40 points: Bryan McCabe (32 games in 2005-06) and Borje Salming (34 games in 1976-77).

Rielly’s power-play time is a big reason for his points total. He has a goal and 13 assists while playing with the extra man. But the Leafs’ power play went through a bit of a drought until breaking out against Florida.

“We were dry there for a bit,” he said. “When you go through a tough slump like that, you’ve got to work through it. We worked on it a lot in practice, we felt good. It was just a matter of time.”

One of Rielly’s skills, like that of Mitch Marner, is the ability to make a crisp, clean pass. That helps Matthews make a quick release, as he did on his two goals against Florida.

“(Matthews has) the great shot and he’s able to hit it when the puck is moving quick,” Rielly said.

The return of some powerplay goals has helped the Leafs put up 13 goals in their last two games.

“I don’t think we had any sense of panic,” said centre John Tavares.

“Just fine-tune. Refocus. Get some practice time. Good video sessions. Talk about it. Sometimes you get some better bounces and you get rewarded.”

Though some worry the Leafs’ recent success has come at the hands of non-playoff teams, their record indicates that’s not an issue. They are 12-6-0 against teams currently in a playoff spot, 11-4-2 against teams on the outside of the playoffs.

They believe their success is more about them, and not what the other team has to offer.

“We’re making the defencemen turn,” said Marner.

“We’re not giving them any space through the neutral zone. That’s something we’ve got to keep doing. That’s what we’ve done best the last few games.

“When we get the puck to the net, we’re making sure we’re getting second opportunities, getting those rebounds. Recently we’ve been doing that very well but it’s something we have to get better at.”