Toronto Maple Leafs centre Nazem Kadri celebrates after scoring a goal against the Washington Capitals, in Toronto, on Jan. 23, 2019.Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press
As magic acts go, Auston Matthews’s and Mitch Marner’s first game as a pair wasn’t exactly Penn & Teller.
But that didn’t matter as William Nylander, of all people, and Nazem Kadri had their mojo working, not to mention the Toronto Maple Leafs power play. Kadri finished with three goals and his linemate Nylander chipped in three assists to send the Leafs into their combined NHL all-star and five-day break with a 6-3 win over the Washington Capitals on Wednesday night.
It was just the Leafs’ fourth win in the last 10 games but they were able to overcome the bad luck they have long complained about with a strong application of hard work after a slow start. Nowhere was that more evident than in the play of Kadri and Nylander. The latter has been getting an earful from the fans and media after producing just four points in 20 games after his contract dispute was finally settled.
On Kadri’s first goal, Nylander and Morgan Rielly dug the puck out from behind the Capitals’ net to allow Kadri to cash in. On the Leafs’ second goal, Nikita Zaitsev’s first of the season, Nylander got the puck on a nice back-check on Alexander Ovechkin to start a rush and then took a hit in the Caps zone to protect the puck and set up Zaitsev for the shot.
Then there was the puck-luck the Leafs have said they weren’t getting lately. On Kadri’s third goal, Connor Brown bounced the puck off the crossbar and a post and had it land right in front of Kadri.
“It’s always nice to get some breaks, get some bounces,” Kadri said. “Early on in the game, you catch a break like I did, just crashing the net, you know it’s going to be a good one.”
As for the Brown shot, Kadri said, “Yeah, that was quite the fortunate bounce. It wasn’t spinning or anything, just laid up on the tee for me.”
It all added up to a nice week ahead for the Leafs.
“We wanted this one, for sure,” Kadri said. “We wanted to feel good about ourselves heading into the break. It’s definitely nice to play a full 60 and beat a good team.
“We were just working. The work ethic was there, just making responsible, reliable plays and letting our skill take over once we were in the offensive zone.”
Kadri also told the media he figures Nylander’s big night should finally get him going on one condition: “Yeah, if you guys would just get off his back I think he’d be okay.”
The Matthews-Marner combo, along with left winger Patrick Marleau, did not come flying out of the gate. However, Matthews did manage to get a power-play goal to give the Leafs their first lead of the game and then Kadri and Nylander applied the finishing touches in the third period. Marner closed out the scoring with an empty-net goal.
The power-play goal, at 16:19 of the third period, was Matthews’s first goal in eight games and first power-play goal since Dec. 20. It was also the Leafs’ first power-play goal since Jan. 12.
While the power-play goal came on the Leafs’ lone opportunity, the first power-play unit looked overpowering for the first time since October when it was scoring at will. There were three tremendous scoring chances before Matthews potted his 21st goal of the season and looked skyward in a big sigh of relief.
“That’s how we pretty much need to do every power play,” Matthews said. “We were relentless on the puck. We kept getting it back. We shot it and got it back consistently and then were able to capitalize.”
Alexander Ovechkin scored for the Caps to tie Sergei Fedorov for most career NHL points (1,179) by a Russian player. Nicklas Backstrom and Matt Niskanen also scored for the Capitals.
While Matthews broke his scoring slump it did not come during five-on-five play with Marner. The duo’s work at even strength was mixed and hardly reminiscent of Marner’s chemistry with his usual centre, John Tavares.
Given how reluctant Leafs head coach Mike Babcock was to finally put Matthews and Marner together on a regular basis, it is anyone’s guess if the pairing will last when the team returns from its break on Feb. 1.
“I’m not sure Babs likes it too much but I enjoy playing with [Marner] a lot,” Matthews said. “It’s up to him obviously and whoever he puts there after the break I’m happy with. If he keeps [Marner] I’m happy.”
Outside of saying they were “fine” together, Babcock did not want to get into any discussion of the matter after the game.
“I don't know. I haven't watched the game, I'll go through it and see what happens,” the coach said.
Early in the game, it looked like it was going to be Ovechkin’s night even if he did get off to a rough start. The Capitals came into the game in as big a funk as the Leafs, having lost six games in a row. They were also playing the second of back-to-back games, having lost in overtime to the San Jose Sharks at home on Tuesday.
Their woes were illustrated seven minutes into the game shortly after Ovechkin missed a scoring chance. When he made his way back to centre, Ovechkin was caught by his linemate T.J. Oshie in a thundering blind-side accidental collision.
Ovechkin took a while to get up and was sent to the dressing room to undergo concussion protocol by an NHL concussion spotter. He missed several minutes but was able to return to the game late in the first period.