Leafs spoil old friend Reimer’s return to Toronto
TORONTO — Connor Brown set a careerhigh with four points and Mitch Marner scored another impressive goal as the Toronto Maple Leafs spoiled James Reimer’s first start as an Air Canada Centre foe.
Brown scored two goals and added two assists in the 6-1 win over Reimer’s Florida Panthers (8-8-1). Leo Komarov, James van Riemsdyk and Jake Gardiner also added tallies in Toronto’s seventh victory in nine tries at home (7-2-0), Nazem Kadri chipping in with a pair of assists.
Frederik Andersen stopped 27 shots, improving to 6-2-0 in November for Toronto (8-6-3).
Aaron Ekblad scored the lone goal for Florida, Reimer pegged for six goals on 30 shots in his first start in Toronto as a member of the opposition. A former fourth round pick of the Leafs, he played more than 200 games with the club over six seasons. His former team got to him quick, popping three by in the opening frame, including a pair by Brown.
The 22-year-old Brown got his third career National Hockey League goal when he deflected an innocent-looking Morgan Rielly point shot past a surprised Reimer nearly six minutes into the first. The goal was initially ruled off on account of a high stick, but was later overturned on video review.
After Ekblad evened the score at 1-1 with only his fourth point of the season (all goals), Brown scored again. This time, he eluded a check along the boards by Ekblad, continued a hard drive down the right side of the ice and then flung a shot on goal as he avoided a diving Jason Demers. Brown crashed into the boards and popped up with a visor full of snow after the shot beat Reimer, who was taken aback by the goal once more.
Signed for five years and $17 million US this past summer, Reimer has been just OK with a 2-3-1 record in his first seven games with Florida. Arguably Toronto’s top rookie all season and especially of late, Marner padded the lead to two with maybe the most impressive goal of the Leafs season. Gaining control of the puck just inside the Florida blue line, Marner gained a step on defenceman Michael Matheson and then made a series of dekes to beat Reimer.