Bozak line provides the needed lift
Marner, van Riemsdyk come through offensively as Leafs end five-game winless skid
Apparently the line of Tyler Bozak, James van Riemsdyk and Mitch Marner got the memo.
The unit was arguably the Leafs’ best in a 3-2 win over Detroit on Tuesday night at the Air Canada Centre, bouncing back from a sketchy performance in a road loss in Anaheim last week.
“I was happy with all the chances I was getting, but the point is to score goals, so it was nice to get that one,” said van Riemsdyk, who snapped a14 -game goalless streak and reached the 20-goal plateau for the fourth time in his career.
“That’s a nice little milestone, but we have bigger goals in mind (playoffs) . . . that’s what we play for.”
Marner and Bozak assisted on the Leafs’ first two goals, after coach Mike Babcock had cut the line some slack in recent days, noting that their defensive effort is usually there even when the offence isn’t.
Marner, minus-four in Anaheim, now has 37 assists on the season, three shy of the Leafs’ rookie record.
“It was great to see (van Riemsdyk) get that goal,” Babcock said. “That will help that line, and we need all lines going now, so that goal is gonna help.”
The Leafs entered the night a point behind the Islanders — who played late in Edmonton — for the second wild-card berth in the Eastern Conference.
Alexey Marchenko, with his first goal as a Leaf, and Nazem Kadri, with his 27th of the season, also scored to help snap a five-game winless skid.
After Kadri’s goal put them up 3-0 at 5:49 of the second period, the Leafs began to fumble around in their own zone. Detroit’s Gustav Nyquist, in just his second game back from a six-game suspension, scored his first of two goals with 38 seconds left in the period.
Detroit, which had just eight shots in the first period and did not register a shot on goal in the second until there was 3:45 to go, had suddenly cut the lead to two. Babcock started the third period with the line of Auston Matthews, Connor Brown and Zach Hyman plus Morgan Rielly and Nakita Zaitsev on defence. They promptly left Nyquist open for another chance and he buried it just 36 seconds in.
Detroit outshot the Leafs10-3 in the third period and pulled goalie Petr Mrazek with 1:10 remaining, but came up short in a bid to tie it.
Babcock pulled some moves to help his club protect their two-goal lead, starting with moving Brown to the Kadri line with Leo Komarov. That gave Babcock an answer for Detroit’s Henrik Zetterberg, who was setting up numerous chances late.
Babcock had Matthews out for the final moments with Brian Boyle and Zach Hyman.
Toronto’s struggle with third-period leads has been a major problem. According to Elias Sports, the Leafs entered the game having blown seven two-goal leads in the third period. The league record is nine, set by the 1942-43 Chicago Blackhawks.