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TSN Toronto Maple Leafs Reporter

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TORONTO – The runaway success and impressive talent of the Toronto Maple Leafs’ rookie class has been surprising teams around the league all season. But before they were rewriting the franchise’s rookie record books – which continued in earnest during the team’s 4-2 win over the New Jersey Devils on Thursday – even their coach wasn’t entirely sure of what he had been getting from his first-years.

“I didn’t even know Mitch Marner could make the team to be honest with you. I had no idea,” said Mike Babcock. “I knew [Auston Matthews] was a real good player, I knew [William Nylander] was a good player, I knew [Zach] Hyman and [Connor] Brown were relentless. I had no idea [Nikita] Zaitsev was even close to as good as he is. They’re good players. [But] I didn’t care much about [the records]; I just like winning.”

Victories have been piling up for the Maple Leafs lately, with the team posting a 6-1-1 record in its last eight games. Thursday could have been a letdown with Toronto facing the worst team in their conference on a back-to-back after beating the Columbus Blue Jackets the night before, but not only did Toronto tighten its grip on third place in the Atlantic Division, the youngest Maple Leafs embraced the opportunity to add to their franchise's history..

With an assist on Josh Leivo’s power play goal in the first period, Nylander extended his point streak to 10 games, breaking the record set by Gus Bodnar, Bob Nevin and most recently Dan Daoust in 1983. It’s the longest point streak by a rookie this season, and also allowed Nylander to tie Daoust’s rookie record for power play points (25). Nylander also added a goal in the second period.

“I don’t know what to say. [There’s] been some luck,” Nylander said of breaking the record. “I had the empty-netter against Boston, and the apple in Carolina where I gave it to Morgan [Rielly] and he skated around with it about 30 seconds and scored himself. I guess you have to have luck to get there and the players you play with [help].”

Nylander has been stapled to Matthews’ wing during this recent run of success, and the two continue to bring out the best in each other, both offensively and defensively. Matthews has benefited from Nylander’s elite passing skills, and is one goal away from tying Wendel Clark’s rookie goal record, but the winger has been deferring less of late.

“I think he’s been shooting the puck more,” Matthews said. “Everyone knows he has unbelievable vision and skating, but he has a pretty unbelievable release. I think you can see that on his goal today and his goal [in Columbus]. He has a pretty quick release.”

Not to be outdone by his cohorts, Marner also tied a rookie franchise record on Thursday, one that had stood for more than 70 years. Firing an inadvertent bank pass off Keith Kinkaid’s pad that James van Riemsdyk buried gave Marner his 40th assist of the season, matching Bodnar’s total from 1943-44.

“It’s pretty cool, especially with the team I grew up watching,” Marner said. “But at the same time there is still a lot of work to do here. You can’t focus on yourself, you have to focus on the team and what you can do to help.”

However good they look on paper, all their record-breaking seasons combined won’t mean as much to Toronto’s young stars if there isn’t a playoff berth waiting at the end of the next nine games. And that will mean continued production from the Maple Leafs’ entire rookie class, in all its forms.

“It goes beyond us three, we’re dressing seven or eight [rookies] usually a night,” Matthews said. “So I think everybody contributes offensively, defensively, in the faceoff circle, doesn’t matter. It’s definitely pretty cool having a group of guys going through the same thing.”


Takeaways

Return of the M[a]c: He doesn’t get to start often, but when he does, Curtis McElhinney has been consistently solid for the Maple Leafs. So when he gave up the game’s first goal on the Devils' first shot, off a sharp-angled strike that trickled past him, it didn’t bode well for how the evening might unfold. After earning a few Bronx cheers from the crowd when he made his second save of the game – a long centre ice wrister that went straight on – McElhinney looked like his usual self again. He was especially strong on the Devils’ 5-on-3 power play chance in the third and made more than a few sprawling saves when the Maple Leafs’ defence started to splinter. McElhinney ended the night with 32 saves on 34 shots in what may have been his final start of the season. While Frederik Andersen has already hit 60 starts, there are just nine games to go and a pair of back-to-backs standing between Toronto and the postseason, and they may need to lean on Andersen to get them every last point possible to stay in the picture.

Special powers: Toronto’s special teams have been an important factor of their recent success – with Leivo’s tally the team is at 10 man-advantage goals in its last 10 games. At the same time, the penalty kill has been lights out in the two times it’s been called upon in the last two games (including for nearly seven minutes on Wednesday). So when Matt Hunwick hit Kyle Palmieri with an elbow and drew several scrums, it ended up giving the Devils on a 5-on-3 power play. Brian Boyle and Morgan Rielly were also in the box with Hunwick, meaning Toronto would be without four of its biggest penalty killers (Roman Polak missed the game with a suspension). Those on the ice - including Marner at times - held New Jersey at bay, but just after the 5-on-3 expired, John Moore scored his second of the game to cut Toronto’s lead to 3-2. Mike Babcock challenged for goaltender interference but Nikita Zaitsev appeared to have pushed Joseph Blandisi in so the call was confirmed. Discipline has been a major contributing factor to Toronto’s winning ways and they won’t want to lose sight of that down the stretch.

Lovin’ Leivo: He’s been a healthy scratch for Toronto’s last 10 games, so when Leivo finally got back in the lineup, he made his presence felt in a hurry. Trailing the Devils 1-0 early, Leivo got the Maple Leafs on the board with a greasy power play goal that shifted all the momentum back to the home team in the first period. Skating on Toronto’s fourth line in place of Nikita Soshnikov, Leivo didn’t have many opportunities to use his ample offensive skills, but he put three shots on goal while playing tight defensively with Boyle and Matt Martin. Soshnikov’s status was up in the air for the game after he was hurt on Monday, so whether Leivo will stay in the rest of the way is unclear as of now (Babcock said after the game whether he stays in is about the penalty kill), but with 10 points in 12 games this season, he’s doing everything he can to prove his worth.

Brand new heights: One night after Nazem Kadri hit the 30-goal mark for the first time in his career, Tyler Bozak climbed to another level as well, reaching the 50-point plateau with an assist on van Riemsdyk’s second period goal. He hit his previous career-high of 49 points in 2013-14 and 2014-15 while centering Phil Kessel. Bozak has frequently credited the power play with helping to bolster his success this season (he has 16 points with the man advantage) but playing with Marner has had the biggest impact of all. Marner has assisted on 10 of Bozak’s 17 goals and Bozak has tallied an assist on 11 of Marner’s 17 markers. While Bozak and van Riemsdyk have developed their chemistry over the years as linemates, the addition of Marner has allowed Bozak to achieve something he couldn’t even with a player as dynamic as Kessel (although Bozak’s 2013-14 campaign may still be his best of all, when he made it to 49 points in just 58 games after the NHL’s lockout).

Next game: Toronto will take on the Sabres on Saturday in Buffalo.