Marner shines, Nylander scores two, Leafs win home opener

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Mitch Marner sent ’em home happy on Saturday night.

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In the Maple Leafs’ home opener, the star winger had a goal and an assist to go up a notch on the franchise scoring list as Toronto beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-2 at Scotiabank Arena.

Marner, who earlier assisted on a Matthew Knies goal, scored the winner at 2:12 of the third period when he sped down the wing and fooled Penguins goalie Joel Blomqvist with a shot to the far side of the net.

William Nylander scored two goals, including one into an empty net in the final minute, and goaltender Anthony Stolarz made 21 saves for the Leafs.

Our takeaways:

MOVING ON UP

With two points against the Penguins, Marner has a total of 641 in his career with the Leafs, moving him one past Ron Ellis for seventh on the franchise list.

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As Matthews continued to look for his first point of the season — he had his chances on Saturday night, recording eight of the Leafs’ 33 shots on goal — Marner got his name on the scoresheet after going the first two games without a point.

“It’s a really cool achievement,” Marner said about moving into seventh in team history. “I’ve spoken 1,000 times about being from here, and loving growing up and being part of this team.

“It’s really cool to have your name with some of the all-time greats that played with this jersey and that logo on it. I’ve given a lot of credit to people around me since Day 1. Without them, that would not be possible. It’s five men on the ice. It’s 23 guys every time. A lot of credit to everyone around me who have helped me get to this point. It’s cool, but we’re trying to achieve something cooler and greater.”

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True, a Stanley Cup is the most important goal.

Playing in the last year of his contract and with free agency on the horizon next summer, Marner will be under more regular-season scrutiny than ever before in 2024-25. But we don’t think it’s going to impact the way he plays the game. If he feels the pressure, shrugging it off and doing what he does so well shouldn’t be a problem for the Markham native. His hockey smarts should help him triumph over the noise in the market that surely will be loud at times in the coming months.

His goal was what we’ve come to expect from him. He chipped the puck past Penguins defenceman Marcus Pettersson at the side boards, took a bump and continued on to beat Blomqvist.

“I’ve watched Mitch from afar for a long time, and coached against him,” Leafs coach Craig Berube said. “He’s a very good two-way player, all-situational player, and great teammate (from what) I’ve seen. A lot of energy, a lot of good. A lot of good.”

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THE OEL FACTOR

Another game, another zero for the Leafs on the power play.

This time, the units had nothing to show for three man-advantages, running their string of futility to 0-for-9.

It’s not a good look, not with the talent that assistant coach Marc Savard has at his disposal.

The Leafs made what could wind being a significant change to the top unit, though, putting Oliver Ekman-Larsson in Morgan Rielly’s spot on the top unit.

After making the switch on Saturday, the Leafs should keep it that way. For years, the knock on Rielly, whose offensive instincts otherwise are high, has been the lack of an effective, hard shot from the point while the Leafs are on the power play.

Not so with Ekman-Larsson.

“He ran power plays for a long time in Arizona,” Berube said. “Shoots the puck from the point. He establishes that shot and he’s pretty fluid at walking the line and seeing the ice.

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“So far, it has been stagnant. We all know that, (so we were) moving some guys around, just trying to find a spark, something different. I thought it got better in third, we had some opportunities, but we have to get to work on it.”

With two practices before their next game, at home against the Los Angeles Kings on Wednesday, there is time for Ekman-Larsson to get comfortable on the No. 1 unit. He should get that opportunity.

Said Marner of the power play: “It has not got off to the start we wanted it to, but can’t get frustrated with it. Thought we did a better job with our entries, end-zone play, but we just need to be a little cleaner and more direct. We did have looks around the net.”

FIRST FOLLIES

The Leafs weren’t great from start to finish on Saturday, but a team can get away with that when it’s an opponent such as the Penguins, one that probably shouldn’t be making reservations for hotels on the road in the post-season.

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In the first period, the Leafs couldn’t get out of their own way and trailed 1-0 on a goal by Kris Letang.

Much to Berube’s pleasure, though, the Leafs got a couple of goals early in the second to take control and didn’t have much to worry about the rest of the game. It wasn’t perfect hockey by any stretch, but when a team still can win through hiccups and while getting accustomed to what the new coach wants them to do, it should indicate that victories will be the norm when the kinks are smoothed out.

“I think it’s kind of tough with these home openers to be honest. You’re sitting around for quite a bit of time after warmups and stuff like that,” Marner said. “At first, it’s kind of tough to get your feet under you, but I thought we did a good job in the second and third of staying relaxed, not forcing plays, not forcing anything O-zone-wise and waiting for our chances.”

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In the bigger picture, and while acknowledging it remains a small sample size, the Leafs are buying into what Berube wants. Through three games, Toronto has given up only five goals while winning twice.

“I think our details are extremely dialled-in,” Stolarz said. “This was a team that has a lot of skill, they like to seam us, but the guys did a really good job of keeping their sticks in the right lanes, and shot blocking as well.

“That’s something that down the stretch and as the season wears on, we’re going to have to continue to do, because it’s going to be an integral part of our success.”

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