Toronto Maple Leafs forward John Tavares battles with Seattle Kracken defenseman Jamie Oleksiak for a loose puck during the first period at Scotiabank Arena, in Toronto on Nov. 30.John E. Sokolowski/Reuters
Mitch Marner had the second hat trick of his career on Thursday and scored the winner in a shootout as the Maple Leafs held on to defeat the Seattle Krakens 4-3 at Scotiabank Arena.
The only previous time Toronto’s 26-year-old winger had three goals in a game was against the Detroit Red Wings last year.
Marner scored on a soft wrist shot in the first period and on a booming slap shot and a breakaway in the second as the Maple Leafs improved to 12-6-3. The loss was the third in a row for the Kraken, who fell to 8-10-6. Seattle had reached the playoffs last year in only its second season in the NHL.
Toronto’s next game is at home on Saturday against the Atlantic Division-leading Boston Bruins.
The result was another close one for the Maple Leafs, who played 11 games decided by one goal in their first 20. Eight of those went into overtime and of those four had been decided in shootouts.
Auston Matthews, who had just three points in the preceding eight games, assisted on Marner’s first two goals and also scored in the shootout.
Matthews had a strong performance overall – he went 13-9 in faceoffs and blocked four shots.
William Nylander also assisted on Marner’s first goals. He had been held off the scoresheet in three straight games but leads Toronto with 28 points.
The goals were Marner’s sixth, seven and eighth of the 2023-24 campaign and first since Nov. 6, a span of nine games. Marner wore a visor against the Kraken after being struck in the face by a shot by Matthew Tkachuk in Tuesday’s 2-1 win – also in a shootout – over the Florida Panthers.
“When it hit me, the whole right side of my face went numb,” Marner said. He had stitches to the right of his chin. “It was a little bit of a scare there to be honest.”
Marner swiped a puck in from the left side of the net to convert a power play and put Toronto ahead 1-0 with 13:26 left in the first period. The Maple Leafs had numerous opportunities to add to their lead but were stymied time and again by Seattle goalie Philipp Grubauer. The latter was peppered with 14 shots in the first 20 minutes but allowed only one to get through. At the same time, the Kraken was limited to just seven shots.
Marner scored a second time just 21 seconds into the second period. The 2-0 lead held up for only a bit more than three minutes before the Kraken found the back of the net on a power play. With William Lagesson in the penalty box for tripping, Jarred McCann let loose with a wicked wrist shot that eluded Joseph Woll.
Marner then got his third four minutes before the second intermission after receiving a strong pass up the ice from Jake McCabe. Afterwards, chapeaus rained down onto the ice.
“It feels really good,” Marner said. “I haven’t been happy with the way I have played. It hasn’t been my best.”
Toronto surrendered leads of 2-0 and 3-1.
Right wing Eeli Tolvanen cut the Maple Leafs’ lead to 3-2 in the third with his sixth goal of the season and then McCann scored a second time to tie it at 3-3 with 6:36 left.
Veteran defenceman Mark Giordano sat out the game with a broken finger sustained against the Panthers on Tuesday. The club is also without blueliners John Klingberg and Timothy Liljegren, both of whom are on the long-term injured reserve list.
The team slotted Lagesson into the lineup and also recalled defenceman Max Lajoie from the AHL Marlies earlier in the day.
“We’ve had injuries already this year and have managed to be okay,” Morgan Rielly, an alternate captain and defenceman for Toronto, said. “It is going to take guys stepping up and taking more responsibility in their roles. Ultimately it is a group effort.
“This happens to everybody. You just have to work your way through it.”
Toronto is now 8-0-1 when it holds a lead after 40 minutes; the Kraken is 0-9 when it trails after two periods.
Half of Seattle’s eight wins have come against opponents from the Eastern Conference but it was unable to duplicate that feat on Thursday.
Woll had 37 saves in the victory. It was his third straight start in Toronto’s net. In his preceding two outings he stopped 74 of 78 shots combined. He has been so sharp lately that Ilya Samsonov has been reduced to a backup.
“He has been outstanding,” Rielly said. “We have made it tough on him but he has hung in there for us.”
Woll stopped all three shots by the Kraken in the shootout.
“It’s a lot of fun to play when the game is on the line,” he said.
Grubauer had 25 saves in the defeat.
The night belonged to Marner, though.
“He looked confident to me,” Sheldon Keefe, the Toronto coach, said. “He played with authority. I suspect now that he will be more relaxed and just go out and play.”