Mitch Marner was stuck on six goals for nearly a month.
Now the red-hot winger can’t stop putting the puck in the net. Marner scored twice in the third period as the Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the New York Rangers 5-3 on Saturday night.
The 21-year-old was originally credited with another goal, eventually given to Andreas Johnsson, which prompted fans at Scotiabank Arena to litter the ice with headwear for a second consecutive hat trick that wasn’t. Marner scored late in Thursday’s 6-1 spanking of the Florida Panthers — a goal that some in the crowd thought was a third for John Tavares.
“People are losing their hats for no reason here. … I feel pretty bad for them,” said Marner, who recorded the fourth two-goal game of his career. “If they’re Leaf hats, I’m guessing they’re not cheap. Everything around here is pretty expensive.
“Those poor people.”
Marner had 16 assists during a 13-game goal drought that stretched from Nov. 16 to Dec. 13 but has now scored six times and set up two more in his last four outings.
“Every night, he’s one of our best players, if not the best player,” Leafs head coach Mike Babcock said. “He works real hard, he’s real good defensively, he does it right.
“He’s getting rewarded.”
Morgan Rielly, with a goal and an assist, and Patrick Marleau also scored for Toronto (24-10-2), while Frederik Andersen made 25 saves. Tavares and Johnsson, who recorded the second three-point game of his career, each had two assists as the Leafs won their third straight.
Babcock announced following the victory that fourth-line winger Tyler Ennis — a pleasant surprise with seven goals and four assists in 33 games this season — suffered a broken ankle midway through the second period.
“We’ve only got 11 forwards so we’ll have to do something,” said Babcock, whose team hosts the Detroit Red Wings on Sunday before the NHL’s Christmas break.
Neal Pionk and Kevin Hayes, with a goal and an assist each, and Chris Kreider replied for New York (15-14-5). Alexandar Georgiev made 31 saves as the Rangers dropped to 1-2-2 over their last five.
“They’ve got some pretty skilled guys,” New York defenceman Marc Staal said. “We’ve just got to learn from our positives.”
Johnsson snapped a 1-1 tie at 1:37 of the third on a goal originally credited to Marner. After Toronto won an offensive zone faceoff to the left of Georgiev, the Rangers backup goalie stopped an initial tip by Tavares off Jake Gardiner’s point shot, but the rebound squirted out to Marner, whose shot deflected in off Johnsson standing at the top of the crease.
Rielly, who leads all NHL defencemen with 42 points this season, made it 3-1 at 5:26 when he took a pass in the slot from Johnsson and fired his 12th shortside on Georgiev. Johnsson was promoted to Toronto’s top line alongside Marner and Tavares in Thursday’s win over the Florida Panthers with Zach Hyman out a minimum of three weeks with an ankle injury.
New York got back within one just 1:12 later when Filip Chytil made a nice move between his own legs to step around Rielly before Hayes shovelled his 10th past Andersen.
Marner put Toronto back up by two at 12:53 when he took a behind-the-back feed from Tavares and made a nice move to the forehand to beat Georgiev for his 11th.
Kreider got one back for New York on a tip at 16:19, but Marner iced it into an empty net with 19.2 seconds to go.
Down 1-0 after the first, the Rangers tied the game with exactly five minutes left in the second when Pionk took a feed from Jimmy Vesey and the right point and blasted a shot past Andersen’s blocker for his fifth.
The Leafs, who host the Detroit Red Wings on Sunday prior to the NHL’s Christmas break, blew a chance to extend their lead earlier in the period on a four-minute power play when Rangers defenceman Adam McQuaid was whistled for holding and cross-checking on the same sequence.
Starting in place of No. 1 goalie Henrik Lundqvist, Georgiev made a nice pad stop on Ennis before Auston Matthews whipped another shot wide as a Toronto’s power play — a perfect three-for-three on Thursday to snap a 1-for-25 slump — failed to connect.
After the Rangers tied the score, Ryan Strome had a chance to give his team its first lead, but the winger completely flubbed his shot at a wide-open net late in the period.
New York had a couple of opportunities to grab an early lead, but Toronto went up 1-0 at 2:58 of the first when Marleau scored his 10th on a deflection.
Rielly intercepted Mats Zuccarello’s clearing attempt and fired a shot towards Georgiev that Marleau tipped home.
The 39-year-old Marleau is just the fourth player in NHL history to register at least 10 goals in 21 or more consecutive seasons.
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