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SPORTSCENTRE Reporter

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The Maple Leafs (optional) and Carolina Hurricanes skated at Scotiabank Arena on Monday. 

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Mitch Marner found a way to stay hot during the All-Star break. The winger travelled to Miami alongside teammates Justin Holl, Petr Mrazek, Rasmus Sandin and Timothy Liljegren. 

"It's always good to get away and relax your mind and relax your body and just enjoy some sun," Marner said. "As you guys all know, it hasn't been the nicest weather here."

Marner did acknowledge that the timing of the break was "unfortunate" considering he's riding the longest goal streak of his National Hockey League career. Marner has eight goals and eight assists in seven games since returning from the COVID protocol. 

Since entering the NHL, Marner has always spoken about wanting to shoot more, but something seems to have finally clicked. 

"The difference is I'm not really focusing on clean shots," Marner explained. "I'm not afraid to try to just whack one or something like that and just kind of get it towards the net and surprise someone."

"He's so deceptive when he's got the puck," observed linemate Auston Matthews. "We've seen it the last couple games, him being able to beat the goaltender clean. He's got a great shot. He might need to get a little more juice on it, but he's really accurate and deceptive. He can catch the goalie or defenceman or whoever's defending him off guard sometimes."

Marner is an elite playmaker and skating alongside Matthews, the reigning Rocket Richard Trophy winner, you can understand why he's usually thinking pass. Lately, though, Marner is being a bit more selfish. 

"Not overthinking the shot is such a big thing for goal scorers," said coach Sheldon Keefe. "He's just letting it go and that's important. It's gone in for him, so he's gaining confidence in that. Guys score in different ways. Velocity and overpowering goalies is not the only way to score goals. Mitch has found that groove nicely here." 

Marner has always had the potential to score more regularly. He potted 83 goals over his final 120 games in the Ontario Hockey League. 

Marner's career high in the NHL is 26 goals in the 2018-19 season. He scored 20 goals in 55 games last season, which is a 30-goal pace over 82 games. 

"I've been saying it for a while, I know I can score goals, it's just about believing in it," Marner said. "It's been coming true, obviously, recently and just got to make sure I keep going with it."

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Marner seems loose and relaxed these days. Last week, for example, the Leafs TikTok account hit a milestone and Marner embraced social media rumours that he's running the account. 

"Hey everyone, just want to thank you all for making my account, er, the Leafs account 300k followers," a deadpan Marner said in a TikTok video posted by the team. "Such a great accomplishment for myself, I mean, our team."

For the record, Marner isn't involved in running the account. 

"I keep getting asked this question, but I am not a TikTok guy," Marner insisted with a small smile. "I do not like TikTok at all. I think I would like it, but I just don't want to get addicted to another social media app. I'm done with social media. I don't really care for it anymore. I'm trying to stay off it as much as I can and just focus on myself and my family and what I can control." 

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Frederik Andersen will play his first game in Toronto since leaving the Leafs in free agency. 

"It feels like yesterday ... getting into Toronto," the 32-year-old said. "Just reminds you that you really got to take it all in and enjoy the process and enjoy every day you can."

After a knee injury derailed his final season as a Leaf, Andersen has bounced back in a big way. He's 24-6-0 with a sparkling .929 save percentage this season.

"To really get past that injury and really get back to the level I know I can play at, that's really been great," said Andersen, who helped the Metropolitan Division win the All-Star Game over the weekend. "Carolina welcomed me with open arms and it's been a really good experience so far. I think they deserve a lot of credit too."

Andersen's best save percentage during a five-year run in Toronto was .918. The Dane posted a career-low .895 save percentage over 24 games last season while playing, at times, with the knee ailment. 

"We've always had good goaltending, but Freddie's won us a lot of games," said Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour. "We've played pretty well this year as a group, but he's got us [wins] himself because he was better than the guy across from him in quite a few games."

Andersen stopped 24 of 25 shots in October in his first game against his old team. Matthews was able to beat him, but the Hurricanes beat the Leafs 4-1.  

"He's got some bragging rights," Andersen said of his pal with a grin, "but I'll let him have that if we can have the win. It comes down to the win, obviously."  

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The reunion theme extends to the Leafs net. Mrazek gets the call and will face his old team for the first time. The 29-year-old spent the last three seasons with the Hurricanes.

"He's competitive," said Brind'Amour. "That's why we loved him. He's a gamer. You put him in there, he's going to give you all he has. It's the most important position in hockey and you want that guy to be competitive."

"He just keeps fighting," said John Tavares. "He never says die to any puck or any opportunity to make a save no matter how difficult it may be. The one the other night, when he made it with his stick out of the air, was pretty remarkable. He's shown some pretty good resiliency. It wasn't the ideal start."

Mrazek missed most of the first half of the season due to a groin injury. He's only made six starts with the Leafs. 

Before the break, it seemed like Mrazek was getting in a groove. He won three straight decisions with a .928 save percentage in that stretch. 

"Today's a good opportunity for him to get right back in," said Keefe. "He's going to get more work here through the rest of the season. He's coming off of probably his best play for us … so I think he's in a really good place now."

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Andersen and Mrazek played significant roles during Carolina's last game in Toronto on Feb. 22, 2020. Mrazek replaced James Reimer when the Hurricanes starter got hurt. Mrazek then got hurt himself in the second period, which paved the way for emergency backup David Ayres to get in the net. 

The Hurricanes played a suffocating brand of hockey that night. Ayres only faced 10 shots. The then 42-year-old allowed two goals. Andersen, meanwhile, allowed six goals on 47 shots. Carolina took the game 6-3 with Ayres becoming the first emergency back-up to be credited with a win.

"I didn't realize that," said Brind'Amour when informed that tonight is his first game back in the building since that fateful night. "I didn't even think about that. And we're still playing in front of an empty building. It's just weird. A lot of weird things going on in the last couple years, but that was a fond memory, for sure. So, hopefully we can find something like that tonight."

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Ayres was invited to Raleigh to sound the storm siren before the Leafs played at Carolina on Oct. 25, 2021. The Hurricanes won that game 4-1, which dropped the Leafs to 2-4-1 on the year.

"There's not a lot of time playing against them," Keefe recalled. "They close on you quickly. The pace is really high both ways."

Keefe doesn't usually address his players after a loss, but he made an exception that night, because he felt it was a turning point for the group. He said they got to see and feel what it was like to face a true Stanley Cup contender. 

"In preparing for tonight, I've gone back to watch a lot of that over the last few days and I felt our team played at a really high level in that game in terms of our pace and competitiveness and that's why I came out of that game feeling really positive about where we were going as a team," Keefe said.

Since then, the Leafs have compiled a 27-6-2 record. Brind'Amour isn't surprised. 

"October, it was early, right," the Hurricanes coach noted. "They had new systems kind of getting into place, you know, eerily similar to our system. So, I think it took a little time for them to kind of get it going and now you see it kind of take fruition and they're playing pretty solid now."

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Toronto's second line of Tavares between William Nylander and Alex Kerfoot has gone cold. They were all minus players during Toronto's 7-1 win in New Jersey before the break. 

"Offensively, they need to be a little more direct and play quicker," Keefe said. "We're playing against a team that will really require that. When you look at the success Nylander and Kerfoot have on the wings, a lot of that comes through speed off the puck and moving their feet, playing [well] without the puck and then getting it in good spots. That's an important piece for that line to really get themselves going both on the rush and then into the offensive zone."

Tavares and Nylander each have just two points in five-on-five play over the last 10 games. 

"At times we try to do too much and not put the opposition under as much pressure," Kerfoot acknowledged. "It's just getting back to that and having confidence in ourselves and being really competitive out there."

When is that line at its best? 

"We support each other really well," said Tavares. "We're quick in on the forecheck and able to break teams down in terms of creating more spacing and looks at the net. That's something we want to find a little more rhythm with and consistency with starting with myself."

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Jake Muzzin skated again on Monday morning but will miss a seventh straight game as he continues to work his way back from a concussion. 

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Projected Leafs lines for Monday's game: 

F

Bunting - Matthews - Marner 
Kerfoot - Tavares - Nylander 
Mikheyev - Kampf - Kase
Engvall - Spezza - Simmonds 

D

Rielly - Brodie 
Sandin - Holl 
Dermott - Liljegren 

G

Mrazek starts 
Campbell