Toronto Maple Leafs' William Nylander scores on Utah Hockey Club goaltender Karel Vejmelka in Toronto, on Nov. 24.Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press
In the continued absence of captain Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and William Nylander picked up the offensive slack once again Sunday, leading the Maple Leafs to a 3-2 win over the Utah Hockey Club as Toronto improved to 7-1 without its best player.
Marner had his first multigoal game of the season, while Nylander’s 14th of the year stood up as the game winner, as Toronto continued its recent dominance at Scotiabank Arena, becoming the first team in the NHL to reach double digits in home victories.
With a rare Saturday night off, the Maple Leafs – missing seven regular forwards through injury and suspension – had the luxury of resting up after its recent exploits. Not only had the team gone 6-2-1 through the month of November heading into Sunday night’s game, but it had ascended to the top of the Atlantic Division in the process – one point clear of the Stanley Cup defending champion Florida Panthers – and ahead of last year’s 25-point pace through the first 20 games. On top of that, it had done it all despite the injury-enforced absence of Matthews, the reigning Rocket Richard Trophy winner, for the past seven games.
Marner, who has now scored 14 points in the eight games since Matthews last played, chalked up the team’s recent rich vein of form to the organization’s depth.
“We have a lot of great players, regardless if it’s on our team or in the Marlies organization, so a lot of guys down there that can definitely be playing on a full-time NHL roster,” he said. “So we got a lot of confidence whoever’s in our lineup, and that’s how you have to play.”
The mood around the team improved even more over the weekend as Matthews returned from his medical sojourn to Germany to meet with a specialist about the upper-body ailment that has kept him out since the start of the month. He was on the ice both Saturday and Sunday – the first time he had skated in more than a week. Saying his condition is “night and day” from where he was initially, he also mentioned Wednesday’s game at Florida as a “possible” date for his return.
On top of that, the team was further buoyed by the addition of Alex Nylander, William’s younger brother, who was signed to a one-year NHL deal on Friday to help offset the injuries among the forward ranks.
Though the two didn’t start on the same line, Sunday’s game was the first time the siblings had played together since the 2016 world junior championship in Finland. The Nylanders became the fifth set of brothers in franchise history to play for the Maple Leafs in the same game, and the first to do so time since Miroslav and Peter Ihnacak 37 years ago.
“The entire day was special, and seeing him out there in the first period was kind of just like crazy,” William Nylander said.
His brother said playing his first game for the Leafs didn’t make him as nervous as he originally thought. However, with a whole bunch of forwards still to come back from injury and suspensions, the younger Nylander knows his battle to remain in the NHL is just beginning.
“I obviously just got to work hard every shift, be heavy on the forecheck, win battles, and when I do that, the rest of my game comes,” he said.
After falling behind to a first-period power-play goal by Logan Cooley – having been outshot 12-10 in the opening stanza – the Leafs found their groove in the second. As per usual, the renaissance was led by Marner.
Just past the five-minute mark, the team scoring leader was sprung by John Tavares, who hit his winger in stride with a perfect defence-splitting pass from his own goal line. Streaking away, Marner ripped a wrister over Karel Vejmelka’s glove hand for his seventh of the year.
And the Czech goalie, who had given up Sidney Crosby’s 600th career goal in a 6-1 win in Pittsburgh on Saturday night, was picking the puck out of his net once again just over four minutes later.
With the Leafs on their fourth power play of the game, William Nylander fired a shot from the left circle that touched off Minten but missed the far post. Reacting quickest, Marner grabbed the puck behind the goal line, shooting it off the back of Vejmelka’s leg and in, earning Minten his first career assist in the process. For Marner, his eighth goal of the season was also his 202nd in blue and white, moving him past Syl Apps for 14th on the franchise goal list.
And William Nylander would get in on the scoring act in the period, stripping Cooley of the puck, and racing away down the ice before beating an exhausted Utah goaltender. The goal was Nylander’s 231st with the Leafs, moving him past former captain Ted Kennedy and into sole possession of 11th place on the team’s scoring chart.
The second-period scoring binge helped the Leafs take the game away from Utah after a stuttering first period. As Marner explained, Toronto had got away from its recent game plan in the opening 20 minutes, but after a quick fix in the first intermission, things got back on track.
“I just thought we played a lot better, straightforward, north,” he said. “So as soon we started doing that, we won a little bit more battles as well, and made quick plays off it and got rewarded for it.”
Utah would halve the disadvantage less than two minutes into the third period, following a tip-in from Jack McBain. But from then on it was a series of near misses from Toronto, with both Nick Robertson and Alex Nylander hitting posts as the Leafs tried to put the game away.
Joseph Woll, making his seventh start of the season, ensured the one-goal lead would stand, making 23 saves to earn his fifth win of the year, most notably a highlight-reel pad stop on Michael Carcone with seven minutes remaining.