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Maple Leafs report cards: Mitch Marner secures well-fought and deserved win

17 November 2024Last Update :
Maple Leafs report cards: Mitch Marner secures well-fought and deserved win

Speed and pace were the themes of this game. The Edmonton Oilers had the edge with their top line getting big minutes in the Toronto Maple Leafs’ end while also scoring the night’s first goal thanks to Adam Henrique. Not only did the Leafs keep up with the Oilers, they pushed the pace themselves. Bobby McMann tied the game off a heavy shift with Tavares and Marner while the top power-play unit built up on more scoring chances.

Even though the Oilers scored their second goal in the power play, the penalty kill was big for them. Ryan Reaves was assessed a five-minute major and a game misconduct for his hit on Darnell Nurse, which gave Edmonton plenty of time to extend the lead. Fortunately, the Leafs killed the whole thing and couldn’t get one of their own to tie it despite their own man-advantage run, including a five-on-three.

The Leafs found the luck they needed with two unassisted goals in the third period from Matthew Knies and McMann’s second of the game. Leon Draisaitl secured a point for the Oilers as his 13th of the season tied it with a minute and a half to go in regulation. After a failed two-on-one and a huge stop on Connor McDavid by Anthony Stolarz, Marner ended the game with his 200th career goal.

This was a well-fought and deserved 4-3 overtime win for the Leafs. They defended well at five-on-five and made the Oilers pay for the opportunities they gave up. The energy of this game was playoff-like and the Leafs coming away with the win, again without Auston Matthews, is another chapter in their book of “If you play this way, you win.” The Leafs brought their A-game, their grade for the night.

Player reports

Mitch Marner: A+

Your leaders have to lead, and Marner did that tonight, starting with the secondary assist to Bobby McMann’s goal. He also made several good passing plays and his zone coverage and was solid at five-on-five. On the penalty kill, he also had a nice play covering for Jake McCabe down low when his stick was broken. And then there is the overtime winner.

Marner, the sole player back, took a knee to block Draisaitl’s pass to McDavid, skated down the ice, and ripped it on Stuart Skinner.

Jake McCabe – Chris Tanev: A+

The best defence pair by far at five-on-five after seeing a lot of McDavid. Both were blocking machines combining for 13, and they were also huge on the penalty kill. Although staying steady, McCabe had an unreal backcheck in the first to get back and completely take away a scoring opportunity.

Bobby McMann: A

He was all over the ice and excelled in combining his speed and power. McMann started his goal with the puck in his zone, dumped it, and pinned Emberson to the boards. His battle continued with Emberson to the front of the net and was worse with McDavid in the picture, but he found the loose puck and beat Skinner.

McMann added another goal to give the Leafs the third taking advantage of an aggressive Skinner on the rush.

Offensive production aside, McMann was a force. He was skating through opposing players to the net and had a strong play on Hyman in the neutral zone to force the turnover and get back into Edmonton’s end.

John Tavares: B+

It was another workhouse night for Tavares as he and the line won their minutes against the McDavid line.

Anthony Stolarz: B+

He finished the game with a .900 save percentage after stopping 27 of 30 shots, which doesn’t do the performance justice. Some of Stolarz’s key saves include his short-handed stop on Connor Brown, bailing Rielly out with a well-timed poke check and taking away the tap pass for Hyman with his toe. Draisaitl’s tying goal is unfortunate, considering he had a big pad save in a scrum before it, but his save on McDavid in overtime kept the Leafs alive long enough to end it.

Morgan Rielly: B+

Rielly experienced a series of highs and lows in this one. The lows included needing to get more on the puck to redirect it from Henrique ahead of his goal and McDavid stealing the puck from him outright behind the net. Aside from the scoring chances, the highs included him saving a goal as Zach Hyman had an easy tap-in.

Matthew Knies: B+

Knies is making the front of the net his home. He’s not hitting on all of those deflection chances, but his willingness to stay in the crease is giving his linemates more options and, in tonight’s case, drawing penalties.

William Nylander: B+

You could hear Nylander screaming for the puck in the first, and he did everything but score after seven shot attempts. He hit the post short side and couldn’t control a bouncing puck off the glass. Nylander finished the game with 14 shot attempts.

Oliver Ekman-Larsson: B

The only defenceman with a point on the night as McMann caught up to his clear off the boards and scored. Ekman-Larsson was also up in the rush a lot more in the second half of the game as a fourth rush option.

Conor Timmins: B

Aside from a well-played run-in with McDavid, where he tracked him well into the Leafs’ end and stopped his shot, he also set Tavares up nicely for an empty-net tap-in when he was on the top unit during that second power-play opportunity.

Jani Hakanpää: B-

The frame was used on the penalty kill. Hakanpää is still getting into the swing of things, and it’s clear the timing is not there yet, especially on some zone breakouts.

Nick Robertson: C

In his defence, I’m not sure what he can create on his own with Pontus Holmberg and David Kämpf, who aren’t too offensively inclined. He did finish the game with three shots, but he needs to work on net getting knocked down as much.

David Kämpf: C

Passed up on an excellent chance to take the puck to the net with a no-look pass to the crease. Got some time to play with more skilled players once the team went down to 11 forwards.

Max Domi: C

Whatever is bugging him impacts his play, and he lost some key board battles that led to scoring chances.

Connor Dewar: C

Dewar had a good rush in the third off a lucky bounce.

Pontus Holmberg: C

Skated well, and is getting shots, but only a little else to stand out.

Steven Lorentz: C

Aside from Reaves, Lorentz played the least (6:46) without a shot, block or hit.

Ryan Reaves: D

Only played 3:54 after being ejected from the game. I’m guessing the NHL’s Department of Player Safety will have something to say about his hit on Nurse.

Game Score

What’s next for the Leafs?

The homestand continues on Wednesday against the Vegas Golden Knights at 7:30 p.m. ET on Sportsnet.

(Photo of Connor McDavid shooting the puck against Mitch Marner: Dan Hamilton / Imagn Images)

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