The Canadian postal strike will be long forgotten when Mitch Marner gets smooth deliveries such as Friday night.
Instead of his daily mail passes to hard-shooting Auston Matthews, the latter’s ongoing injury gave Marner a chance to show his own release, a natural hat trick in a 5-2 win over the hometown Detroit Red Wings. Marner was the recipient of three outstanding feeds, from John Tavares, William Nylander and Oliver Ekman-Larsson.
David Kampf began the scoring at Little Caesars Arena, while Nick Robertson made the Wings look silly a day after a coaching change with a second-period buzzer beater after Detroit had won a draw then lost the puck to Max Domi with a few ticks remaining.
The three-goal Toronto first period, coming off a three-day Christmas break for all clubs, was a deflating start for new Detroit headmaster Todd McLellan. It was the Leafs more fired up about not losing a third straight game
Marner was so enamoured with Tavares’s backhand relay through his legs and past four Wings to him that he rushed over for an embrace, while Nylander’s power-play feed also sailed uninterrupted across the slot to him. Ekman-Larsson jostled his way down left wing into shooting position with Marner supplying the perfect tip past Cam Talbot.
On the big board, Marner is nudging 50 points, among the top five in the NHL. It was his third career hat trick, 18th goal versus the Wings and notably, his eighth multi-point game in the 12 that Matthews has missed with an upper body issue.
Marner’s second was at end of a four-minute minor to Lucas Raymond for an errant stick that cost defenceman Jake McCabe a tooth, one of a few mishaps with Toronto’s blueliners in support of Joseph Woll. Raymond broke the shutout on a third-period power play after Woll had made four impressive saves and 21 in all, Detroit adding another when Woll lost Simon Edvinsson’s shot on a partial screen. Woll made 22 stops.
Coming off the holiday, Berube elected to keep big defenceman Philippe Myers in the lineup, scratching Conor Timmins. Ryan Reaves was also kept in the pressbox after sitting against Winnipeg, with a likely return Saturday against Washington. Matt Murray, recalled Thursday from the Marlies, likely starts against the Caps.
Kampf’s goal came in his 500th NHL game. Talbot was replaced by Alex Lyon to start the final period.
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