Toronto Maple Leafs' Auston Matthews brings the puck past Pittsburgh Penguins Noel Acciari during second period NHL hockey action in Toronto, on Saturday, Oct. 12.Chris Young/The Canadian Press
He may have been the fall guy back in the spring, but in his first regular-season game back in front of the frenzied fans of Leaf Nation, Mitch Marner delivered a star turn Saturday night, scoring the game winner and adding an assist to lead the Toronto Maple Leafs to a 4-2 home-opening victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Marner, who was fitted by some with goat horns after scoring just three points in the team’s seven-game first-round playoff loss to the Boston Bruins, registered his 640th and 641st points, passing former Leaf great Ron Ellis for seventh on the franchise’s all-time list.
“It’s really cool achievement,” the Toronto native said afterwards. “I’ve spoken 1,000 times about being from here and growing up being a part of this team. And it’s really cool to have your name with some of the all-time greats that played for this jersey and put that logo on.”
As is customary, the home opener was complete of some of the traditions that are synonymous with the Leaf franchise. As has been tradition every year since the old Maple Leaf Gardens opened in 1931, the 48th Highlanders of Canada made their customary season-opening appearance, with the sound of bagpipes filling the team’s current home, Scotiabank Arena.
That was followed by staff and player introductions. With the Maple Leafs having had to wait around on both Wednesday and Thursday in Montreal and Newark as the Canadiens and Devils respectively celebrated their home openers, it was only fair that the Leafs would do the same. And while there were big cheers for new head coach Craig Berube and injured goaltender Joseph Woll – in addition to Marner, Morgan Rielly and Ryan Reaves – there was no doubt who received the warmest welcome of the night. That was of course for the reigning Rocket Richard Trophy winner – and the newly installed captain of the Maple Leafs – Auston Matthews.
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Beyond the meeting of two of the most successful NHL franchises in recent years – in the regular season anyway – was the highly anticipated subplot. That was the matchup of two former Hart Trophy winners in the shape of Toronto’s Matthews and Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby, who were meeting for the 17th time, but the first as franchise captains.
And it was Crosby, three games into his 20th season in the NHL, who helped get Pittsburgh on the board in the first period. With the Leafs a man down after Simon Benoit took a tripping penalty just after the 10-minute mark, the 37-year-old combined with the other two longest-serving Penguins – Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang – to jump into the lead, with Letang allowed to casually skate in from the point before firing a slap shot over the shoulder of Anthony Stolarz in the Maple Leafs goal.
“I thought our legs weren’t there or our hands weren’t there, just little puck plays, and they come hard, Pittsburgh,” Berube said afterwards. “They’re a very good forechecking team, a lot of pressure. So we were under siege. But our structure didn’t break on it. We held our ground, the goalie made some saves.”
The game appeared to turn on its head in a 123-second spell at the start of the second period. Just 50 seconds in, Max Domi – back at centre with John Tavares out sick – seized on an errant pass in the neutral zone and broke in on rookie Penguins goaltender Joel Blomqvist – playing in just his second career NHL game. With the young goalie at his mercy, Domi faked to shoot before sliding the puck to his left, where William Nylander had the simplest of tasks to one-time it into the net for his first of the new campaign.
“He kind of faked me out a little bit, but he usually passes so in the back of my mind I thought he’d pass it,” Nylander joked afterwards.
And barely two minutes later, a carom off the end boards bounced back through the legs of a Penguins defenceman and on to the stick blade of Matthew Knies, who was all alone in the slot to score his first of the season, with Marner and Rielly also earning their first points of the season on the play.
And just like that, the Leafs were in front.
And Marner ensured they would stay there just over two minutes into the final period. The winger reacted the quickest when Crosby unwisely left a puck for defenceman Marcus Pettersson, with Marner poking it down the boards and winning the foot race before firing his first goal of the year beyond Blomqvist.
“He’s been awesome the way he plays,” Stolarz said. “Obviously, you see the offensive skill, the offensive talent. But you know, especially in the game in New Jersey just being able to watch him back check. His attention to detail in the defensive zone, his edge work is amazing.”
Refusing to lie down, the Penguins made the faithful sweat down the stretch when Rickard Rackell beat Stolarz just under the crossbar, earning Malkin his 1,300th NHL point in the process.
And while the Pittsburgh poured it on late looking to force overtime, Stolarz stood tall, making a handful of clutch saves – he finished with 21 – to earn his first home win. Nylander grabbed his second of the game – an empty-net goal – to ice the victory inside the final minute.
While Berube will have been happy to pick up his first win in front of the Leafs faithful – especially on Thanksgiving weekend – there was much grist for his mill.
The power play was, once again, woefully ineffective, going 0-for-3 on the evening, with the team firing blanks on nine straight man advantages to start the season. That will have been enough to give Leaf fans chills, echoing the 1-for-10 misfire that proved to be one of the team’s Achilles heels during the playoffs last spring.
And there was a still a general sloppiness to the team’s play, though that won’t have been helped by the absence of Tavares and the shuffling of lines that came as a result.
In addition, after scoring 69 goals last year, Matthews is yet to generate so much as a point this year, though given the winning start to his captaincy – with the team now 2-1 on the year – that is but a minor quibble. Certainly Berube will be happy for the three days off before his team takes on the Los Angeles Kings on Wednesday.