Marner has five points, Maple Leafs score eight in win against Hurricanes
Gets two goals, assist within 59 seconds in third to help Toronto win fifth in row
via NHL.com
Mitchell Marner scored twice and had three assists to tie his single-game NHL career high in points, and the Toronto Maple Leafs rallied past the Carolina Hurricanes 8-6 at Scotiabank Arena on Monday.
Marner had two goals and an assist in a span of 59 seconds in the third period, including the tiebreaking goal with eight minutes left in regulation.
“Our adrenaline was pumping, heart’s pumping, I’m fired up,” Marner said. “The first was a great pass from [Auston] Matthews, the second was a great play by Tyson [Barrie] to find the open spot and make a move and the third one I jumped through and was able to pick it off and get down the ice and score. I don’t think the timeout [after the second] one mattered. You’re just riding the high and feel like you could play forever. I felt like a little kid out there skating around, we knew we could do the job and it’s a great team win.”
John Tavares scored and had two assists; Matthews, Barrie and Jason Spezza each scored and had an assist, and William Nylander scored for the Maple Leafs (20-14-4), who have won a season-high five in a row. Frederik Andersen made 35 saves.
“Probably yeah, that was one of the craziest games I’ve been a part of,” Andersen said. “I don’t have anything that can top that off the top of my head. I tried to stay as level as I can and worry about what I could control. The only thing I could do is try to make sure I stopped the next puck and for a rough game, I was able to do that in the third period.”
Martin Necas scored twice and had two assists, Erik Haula scored twice and had an assist, and Brock McGinn and Andre Svechnikov scored for the Hurricanes (22-13-2). Petr Mrazek made 27 saves after replacing James Reimer, who allowed three goals on seven shots in the first period.
“Not in a while I haven’t been a part of anything like that. That was a tough game,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’amour said. “We didn’t come out ready, it wasn’t everyone, but we had a couple guys sleeping and it cost us. Got back in and we had the game in hand and then just fell asleep, took a little breath and against a team with high, high-end talent, you can’t do that. It’s another tough lesson. I would have rather lost 8-0 to be honest because we were so bad to start.”
They said it
“I would have rather lost 8-0 to be honest with you because we were so bad to start and to fight back, you’re basically throwing it away unless you finish it off. Unless you win it, there’s no point in coming back because now we had a couple guys who had really good games, but we had a couple guys who fell asleep in the third. In today’s game, you have to have 20 guys doing it right.” — Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’amour
“Lots of emotions in the game from our start and we’re feeling great and then it gets away from us. We start to come back in the third and we give it up again so it was a lot of emotions, but I really liked how our team stayed with it and found a way and everybody goes home happy.” — Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe
Need to know
Marner’s first five-point game was Feb. 10, 2018 with two goals and three assists in a 6-3 win against the Ottawa Senators. … Hurricanes defenseman Jake Gardiner faced the Maple Leafs for the first time since signing a four-year contract with Carolina as an unrestricted free agent on Sept. 6. He played the first 551 games of his NHL career with Toronto. … Tavares’ three first-period points in 5:10 set a Maple Leafs record for fastest three points to begin a game. It was the 10th time in his NHL career he had three points in the first period. … Maple Leafs forward Trevor Moore was a late scratch after reporting not feeling well but Keefe gave no further update.
What’s next
Red Wings: At the New York Rangers on Friday (7 p.m. ET; MSG, FS-CR, NHL.TV)
Maple Leafs: At the New Jersey Devils on Friday (7 p.m. ET; TVAS, MSG+, SNO, NHL.TV)
Surged back to beat the Canes.
Your @OntarioLottery Game Winning Numbers from a wild one!#LeafsForever pic.twitter.com/Kowerwh2fN
— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) December 23, 2019
👊✋✌️#LeafsForever #NextGenGame pic.twitter.com/8Q2pwSva9L
— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) December 24, 2019
Big win before the break! Happy Holidays to #LeafsNation🎄 pic.twitter.com/266Mnc0Zee
— Mitchell Marner (@Marner93) December 24, 2019
HYPE#LeafsForever #NextGenGame pic.twitter.com/rpMb3sHAxe
— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) December 23, 2019