TORONTO — In the extremely unlikely event that Lou Lamoriello and Mike Babcock felt they had a decision to make regarding Mitch Marner by the end of this weekend, the Leafs rookie took care of it Thursday night.
The offensive display of the former London Knight was on full display in a three-assist effort, another night to emphasize the “former” in his status as an elite junior player.
From the opening game of the pre-season, Marner has shown an ability to play in the NHL and with six points in seven games, he’s more than earned his keep.
The Leafs will play their ninth game of the season Sunday in Brooklyn, after which they would have to send Marner back to junior if they felt he wasn’t ready to handle a full season in he NHL. It would be a stretch to suggest that now, of course.
“He’s been good,” Leafs coach Babcock said prior to Thursday’s 3-2 win over the Florida Panthers. “What I like about Mitch is he basically plays every shift all the time, ultra-competitive. He makes plays all the time.
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“If you’re (linemates Tyler Bozak or James van Reimsdyk) you know you’re getting two or three good looks.”
They certainly did on Thursday as the Leafs snapped a four-game losing streak. That trio was easily the most creative and dangerous on the ice as the Leafs won their second home game in three tries.
And as Babcock outlined, Marner was at the centre of it.
On his first assist, the youngster started the play off with an offensive zone steal that eventually led to a Bozak deflection for the Leafs’ opening goal of the night.
On his second, Marner again scooped up a loose puck, this time at centre ice, then dashed to the Florida zone where he had to dig a puck out of his feet to feed it to van Riemsdyk, who deftly finished.
And for the third, Marner fooled the Florida defenders with a sweeping, no-look pass that again found Bozak to give the Leafs a 3-2 lead.
“It just goes to show his hockey sense and how he reads the play,” van Riemsdyk said. “Just putting the puck in good areas. He already has that ability to know where guys are without necessarily seeing them.”
Marner is the first to admit that his play in Tuesday’s 7-3 loss to Tampa Bay was probably his poorest effort of the season. With that in mind, he recognized the significance of bouncing back with a better showing against the Panthers.
“That was very important. It helps the confidence for sure,” Marner said. “It makes you feel that no matter what happens in the game before, you can just forget about it.”
The fact that Marner is all but a lock to stay here for the entire season gets enhanced on nights like Thursday. And as his coach said, bouncing back with a strong effort after a so-so one only furthers that case.
“It says he’s a smart kid,” Babcock said following the game. “He’s a good player, he’s a competitive guy. They all understand when they play good and when they don’t play as good. They’re not dumb.”
When it comes to hockey sense, Marner is definitely not that.
GAME ON
Just as Babcock had predicted on Wednesday, the Air __canada Centre crowd warmed considerably to struggling goaltender Freddie Andersen. As the defensive sloppiness continued at times, Andersen had his steadiest game of the season and looked much calmer in the crease … The Leafs goalie was also in need of some repairs late in the third when the Panthers’ Colton Sceviour got his stick under Andersen’s mask, cutting him between the eyes. The result was a four-minute Leafs power play at a crucial point in the game … By late in the first period, Babcock was in full juggle mode of his defensive pairings, splitting up the top duo of Morgan Rielly and Nikita Zaitsev and putting Martin Marincin back with the former and Connor Carrick with the latter … “I didn’t like the way we started,” Babcock said. “We passed it right to them so they could shoot it in our net. (Aleksander) Barkov’s line spent the first three shifts rolling around like they were playing against nobody.” … After the shuffle, Babcock said he liked the way Zaitsev and Carrick worked together … Rielly would likely be the first to admit he’s had a sluggish start to the season and you can tag him with the blame on Florida’s opening goal. A giveaway near centre ice quickly turned into an odd-man rush and an easy goal for Jonathan Marchessault.
MORE SCORE
With his big night, Marner moved into third place in Leafs scoring, with each of the top three rookies — Auston Matthews with six goals and four assists followed by William Nylander (4 G, 5 A) and Marner (1G, 5A) … Not a bad start for Marchessault in his life as a Panther. The undrafted 25-year-old Quebec native, who was a bargain-basement $750,000 US free-agent pickup in the summer, scored a pair of goals to give him five goals and five assists in 10 games … With the win, the Leafs snapped a four-game Panthers winning streak at the ACC. Florida has had the Leafs number in recent times, winning each of the past three season series by a 3-1 margin… Ageless Panthers veteran Jaromir Jagr played his 1,636th career NHL game, moving him past Scott Stevens and into sole possession of seventh most in league history … After tripping Leafs goalie Andersen late in the second, Jagr returned to the Leafs crease to apologize.
QUICK HITS
An underrated part of Matthews’ game? He continues to develop skills in the face-off circle. The rookie was an impressive 11-4 at the dot on Thursday and had a share of the Leafs lead in shots on goal with four… With an assist on Bozak’s first-period goal, Zaitsev has an assist in three consecutive games.
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