TORONTO – On a night where William and Alex Nylander entered the Maple Leaf record book, it was business as usual for Mitch Marner.
Marner scored twice in a second-period surge as Toronto defeated the Utah Hockey Club 3-2 Sunday to extend its winning streak to four. The victory, in the lone NHL game on the schedule, came in the first-ever meeting between Toronto and Utah.
Marner has six goals and eight assists in the eight games that captain Auston Matthews has been out with an upper-body injury. He now has multi-point games in seven of his last eight outings, upping his season total to 11. Only Minnesota’s Kirill Kaprizov has more multi-point games, with 12.
His teammates and coach aren’t surprised.
“It’s just kind of standard — the level that he brings year-in and year-out and what he brings to our club and what he means to this team,” said John Tavares, who set up Marner’s first goal with a perfect pass from deep in the Toronto end. “He’s an elite player, makes plays, does so many good things … Plays in all situations, brings an element to our locker-room that’s unique. So we’re really lucky to have him.”
Marner’s seventh and eighth goals of the season upped his career total to 202, moving him past Syl Apps (201 goals) into 14th place on the franchise all-time goal list.
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“I think it’s business as usual,” coach Craig Berube said of Marner’s production. “Even early on in the year, he was playing really good hockey for us — in all situations, not just scoring. I find he’s shooting a little bit more, which is great. I think he can still shoot more but he’s doing a real good job for us.”
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Toronto (13-6-2) was also without the injured Matthew Knies, Max Domi, David Kampf, Max Pacioretty and Calle Jarnkrok and the suspended Ryan Reaves.
Down 1-0 after a sluggish opening period, Toronto turned it up in the second with three goals in five minutes 35 seconds. The Leafs outshot Utah 16-6 in the period.
Logan Cooley and Jack McBain scored for Utah (8-10-3), which was playing its first back-to-back games of the season after snapping a three-game losing streak with a 6-1 win Saturday in Pittsburgh. McBain’s tip-in early in the third cut the Leafs’ lead to 3-2, making for an interesting finale.
Joseph Woll faced 25 shots in the Toronto goal as the Leafs improved to 10-3-0 at Scotiabank Arena, which leads the league for home victories.
William Nylander scored his 14th goal for Toronto. His 231st career goal was also his 43rd game-winning goal, tying George Amstrong for sixth on the franchise all-time list for game-winners.
Alex Nylander, signed this week from the AHL Marlies, made his Leafs debut and saw time on the power play with his older brother in the first period. The Nylanders become the 13th set of brothers to play for the franchise and the fifth set to play together for the Leafs.
“The entire day was special,” said William. “Seeing him out there in the first period felt pretty crazy. Then it settled in and felt more normal.”
“An amazing feeling,” added Alex. “A really special feeling to be here on this team with my brother here. It’s something I’ll remember forever.”
Father Michael Nylander, who played 920 NHL games between 1992 and 2009 for Hartford, Calgary, Tampa Bay, Chicago, Washington (twice), Boston and the New York Rangers, was in the stands.
The last time the Leafs had brothers playing in the same game was in 1987 when Peter and Miroslav Ihnacak played in Game 7 of the second-round playoff series against Detroit. Other brothers to wear the Maple Leaf together were Art and Busher Jackson, Don and Nick Metz, and Barry and Brian Cullen.
Marner says the Nylanders, who last played together for Sweden in the 2016 world junior championship, are cut from the same cloth.
“I think you see it from how they dress to on the ice — you kind of get lost at times thinking who’s who,” he said. “They both have a lot of swagger and a lot of confidence.”
Alex Nylander had previously appeared in 121 NHL games split between Columbus, Pittsburgh, Chicago and Buffalo.
The brothers took the subway to the rink with the downtown clogged by the Santa Claus parade. Utah players also went to Plan B, leaving their bus to walk the final few blocks to the Scotiabank Arena.
Toronto heads to Florida to face the Panthers on Wednesday and Tampa Bay on Saturday. Utah wraps up a four-game road trip in Montreal on Tuesday.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 24, 2024
© 2024 The Canadian Press