Since these are pre-season games, judgments have to be written in sand rather than stone, but that John Tavares-Mitch Marner pairing sure looks tantalizing.
After two NHL exhibition games together, Tavares and Marner have nine points collectively for the Toronto Maple Leafs. Fans watching Tavares’ first appearance on home ice Friday night, a 5-3 Leafs win over the Buffalo Sabres, were certainly anticipating what will come when the regular season begins Oct. 3.
It’s safe to say Tavares and Marner are, too, as they clicked quickly beginning with the former’s first game as a Maple Leaf after signing as a free agent to play in his hometown. Tavares finished with two goals, one set up by Marner and the other an empty-netter in the last minute. Tavares also won a big faceoff in the defensive zone not long before his second goal when the Leafs were protecting a one-goal lead.
“It’s impressive, his ability to skate and be as tenacious as he is,” Tavares said of Marner. “He’s all over the ice. He knows where to be and when he gets [the puck] he knows what to do with it. He has a good sense of the game and his time and space and everyone around him.
“His ability to transition and get up the ice is extremely impressive. It’s something I’m getting used to and it definitely makes the game a lot easier for me. It’s been fun getting things started but we know we haven’t proved anything yet.”
The first half of Friday’s game was an extension of the pair’s first game together, a 4-1 win over the Ottawa Senators earlier in the week. In that one, Tavares scored two goals and added an assist while Marner had a goal and two assists.
Leafs head coach Mike Babcock, of course, is quick to remind everyone there are three players on the line. Zach Hyman, the hardest-working man in hockey in Babcock’s eyes and thus his favourite player, is the left winger who provides the grit and does the dirty work of digging for pucks.
But NHL history leans more toward duos – Lindsay-Howe, Gretzky-Kurri, Trottier-Bossy, Hull-and-Oates. Yes, it is way too premature to be imagining this Leafs pair in that Hall-of-Fame company, but as the great musical duo Dave and Phil Alvin put it, “And tonight if you let me, I'd like to help you dream.”
There was enough to see, even in a preseason game that had the usual mix of skill and slapstick, to project an entertaining season ahead for the Leafs and their fans. Just two games in, Tavares and Marner are quickly tuning in to where the other is when they have the puck.
Tavares’s first goal at home was the third of three quick ones from the Leafs after the Sabres caught them napping early in the first period and it was set up by a nifty play by Marner.
Marner carried the puck into the Sabres zone on the right side with Tavares steaming up the middle. Just past the blue line, Marner surprised a couple of Sabres by slamming on the brakes and making a drop pass to defenceman Timothy Liljegren. Drop passes at the blue line are generally a sure way to get a coach throwing things around the bench but Liljegren was wide open and had lots of time and space to put a slapshot on the net. Sabres goaltender Linus Ullmark made the pad save and kicked the rebound right to Tavares for the goal, which drew a big roar from the home crowd.
It was just the sort of play Marner was talking about earlier in the day when he was asked about getting to know Tavares and Hyman, who was moved over from Auston Matthews’ line.
“It’s definitely growing,” Marner said of their chemistry. “We’re talking to each other more, we’re both getting the feeling where we like to be on the ice.”
The line’s work was interrupted in the second period when Hyman was injured. He sustained a bone bruise and left the game late in the period. Josh Leivo finished the second period with Tavares and Marner and then Babcock shuffled Leivo and a few other players on the left side during the third period.
Babcock said Hyman’s injury was a hip-pointer and he would need a few days off. But, “he’ll be all right,” the coach said.
It wasn’t all roses, though, which is why Tavares said he and his linemates still haven’t proved anything yet. Tavares’s line was on the ice to start the game and he admitted to making the key mistake that allowed Sabres forward Andrew Oglevie to score on a rebound 30 seconds into the game.
The Leafs recovered 18 seconds later with a goal from Ron Hainsey that started the string of three goals, with Pierre Engvall scoring the middle one before Tavares’ marker. C.J. Smith had the other Buffalo goal while Chris Mueller scored what stood up as the winner for the Leafs.
There was also a terrible giveaway by Tavares at a little more than Leaf blueline to Sabres winger Alex Nylander, brother of the Leafs’ William. Nylander took off on a breakaway but goaltender Garret Sparks bailed out Tavares and the Leafs with a nice sliding pad save.
“We’re a week into training camp, so we’ve got a lot of work ahead of us,” Tavares said. “I’m just trying to take stuff one day at a time. This is all preparation time, just use this to get myself and obviously our group ready for October and a long season.”