‘Business as usual’: Marner continues dominant run, spurs Maple Leafs’ comeback

TORONTO — On a night like this, that begins as a mess, two teams stuck in the mud, falling all over each other, you can feel the full weight of Mitch Marner’s dynamism.

A near-decade into a career that’s netted no shortage of hype, awards votes and big-league points, it should be no surprise: No. 16 remains a very good hockey player. But it’s in these types of games specifically that you get a sense of just how pivotal he is to this group, how his uncanny ability to dart and weave around the ice can flip the script for these Toronto Maple Leafs.

Marner’s Leafs had come out stumbling — they’d gotten hemmed in their own zone, wasted a couple early power-play opportunities. They were bobbling passes, whiffing on shot attempts, a disconnected group stringing together disconnected plays.

“It took us a little bit to get going,” said John Tavares of that opening frame, after the final buzzer had sounded. “They just seemed to be a little bit sharper, a little quicker off the get-go.”

“You could tell off face-offs,” his coach, Craig Berube, added. “Guys aren’t jumping, they’re not getting a pick, just little things like that. We didn’t play north right away in the first, we were trying to go back and regroup too much.”

Then came a late goal, a messy shift in the Maple Leafs’ zone eventually resulting in a Utah power play and a Logan Cooley marker.

“Obviously we knew it wasn’t our best,” Marner said of the conversation that took place in the locker room during the first intermission. “You know, not much going in the offensive zone, a lot of defensive play in our zone. So we knew we had to be a lot better.”

From the opening moments of what wound up an ice-tilting second period, it was clear Marner himself had taken that message to heart. The smooth-skating winger came out of the gates flying, weaving around Utah jerseys with ease, spurring a couple early chances for the home side.

And five minutes into the middle frame, he took over.

It started with a split-second read, the puck coming loose near Joseph Woll’s net, and Marner taking off in the opposite direction.

“I got the puck low in our zone, and I saw Mitchy read that there was some open ice ahead,” Tavares said of the game-turning play. “I saw the lane, so I just tried to fire it as hard as I could to make sure it didn’t get deflected.”

“I saw Tanny winning that battle and the puck kind of squirt free, I saw Johnny was able to go get it and turn up ice with his head up and some free space in front of him,” Marner added. “I just tried to read what I had in front of me — there was a big gap there, so just tried to find it. And Johnny made a great pass.”

By the time the Utah players in Toronto’s zone had turned back towards their own net, the puck was on Marner’s stick, the winger collecting it skating backwards into Utah’s end of the sheet, then turning, bearing down on Karel Vejmelka all alone, and making no mistake.

In a vacuum, clipped up and stuck in a highlight reel, it was just another quality play. But against the yawning quiet of a Scotiabank Arena crowd nearly lulled to sleep through 25 minutes, against a Maple Leafs performance that had shown little to that point, the importance of that split-second bolt of poise and creativity was clear as crystal.

No. 16 didn’t stop there. He kept pushing, wheeling into the zone and dancing around white jerseys each time the puck touched his stick. Midway through the period, on the man-advantage, he struck again — weaving through three Utah penalty-killers to take the puck from the blue line down to the corner, sending it back up to Tavares in the slot, and ultimately wiring home a wild one from deep in the corner, a bank shot that beat Vejmelka from behind the goal line.

“I just thought we played a lot better, straightforward, north,” Marner said of a second-period takeover punctuated by two decidedly not straightforward goals of his own. “As soon as we started doing that, we won more battles as well, made quick plays off them, and got rewarded for it.”

It’s a testament to the level No. 16’s established to this point that a performance like this one — pulling his club up out of the mud with a bit of well-timed offensive brilliance — seems run of the mill. To hear those who share a locker room with him tell it, it was just another Sunday.

“I think it’s business as usual,” Berube said of his star winger’s performance in what wound up a 3-2 comeback win. “Even early on in the year he was playing really good hockey for us — in all situations, not just scoring. I find he’s shooting a little bit more, which is great. I think he can still shoot more. But you know, he’s doing a real good job for us.”

“I mean, I think it’s just kind of standard, the level that he brings year in and year out, what he brings to our club, what he means to this team,” added Tavares. “He’s an elite player, makes plays, does so many things without [the puck], plays in all situations, brings an element to our locker room that is unique. 

“We’re really lucky to have him.”

Especially lucky at the moment, of course, given the wave of injuries that has overtaken this roster. Tops among them is goal-scoring talisman Auston Matthews, who hasn’t played a game since Nov. 3. But the absence of regular offensive contributors Matthew Knies and Max Domi hasn’t made things easier, nor has the time missed by vets like Calle Jarnkrok and Max Pacioretty, who could’ve provided some stability amid the chaos.

And yet, Berube’s Leafs have seemed largely unfazed, going 7-1 since No. 34 went down.

“We just believe in the group and the identity we’re trying to build, the type of game we’re trying to play, and the depth we have,” Tavares said of the mindset that’s carried the team through while Matthews has been sidelined. “Don’t get me wrong, we want him back as soon as possible. But good job by everyone just continuing to go to work and just doing what we need to do each and every game to build and get better and earn results.”

It’s the mindset and belief and identity of one particular member of the squad that’s been central in holding the group together as the cracks have begun to show, though. Amid this eight-game Matthews-less stretch, Marner’s collected 14 points, putting up a pair in every one of those seven victories. There’s no question there’s much at stake for No. 16 himself at the moment, too, his future and his legacy in a Maple Leafs sweater still clouded by uncertainty. It’s nights like these ones that make all those past post-season stumbles harder to stomach for the fans packing the Scotiabank Arena stands, these games where No. 16 looks unstoppable.

How those questions are answered down the line remains to be seen. But for now, with his team backed into a corner, it seems there’s little more that could be asked of him.

“You know, people need to step up, and I think a lot of guys have done that in this locker room,” Marner said Sunday, simply. “And we’re going to continue to do it.”