Road-weary Leafs return home on a high after Marner's clutch move

The Maple Leafs travelled home from Salt Lake City on Tuesday. 

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The Leafs are finally heading home. 

"We've been on the road for what? Two months pretty much," said defenceman Simon Benoit following Monday's 4-3 shootout win in Utah. "Guys [are] missing their families."

Benoit became a first-time father during training camp.

"I can't wait to see her, the little girl," the 26-year-old said of his daughter. "I've been seeing a lot of videos. I'll see them [Tuesday], so I'm pretty pumped about it."

Prior to the 4 Nations Face-Off, the Leafs went on a 10-day trip through Edmonton, Calgary, Seattle and Vancouver. Coming out of the break, Toronto has played nine games in eight different cities over 17 days. 

Monday in Utah marked the end of a run of 11 of 13 games on the road. The first trip during this stretch started way back on Jan. 30. 

This latest trip was especially gruelling, with a late start in Vegas on Wednesday, trade deadline drama on Friday, a game in the thin air of Denver on Saturday, daylight savings on Sunday and then an 8 p.m. local start in Salt Lake City on Monday. 

"It's been a long road trip with a change of time zones and we lost an hour, gained an hour, not sure, lately," Benoit said to laughs. "Obviously, it affects us, but we knew we needed to finish strong. Mitchy with the big goal."

Mitch Marner, who declined to waive his no-move clause when approached by management ahead of the deadline, scored the shootout winner to guarantee the Leafs headed home on a high.

"He came through," said coach Craig Berube. "It was a hell of a move he made. That is what he does, he comes through."

Marner was not available to the media after the game. 

The win snapped a three-game skid (0-2-1), which had seen the Leafs blow two third-period leads for the first time all season.

Toronto continued to struggle with the lead on Monday as a 3-0 advantage evaporated in less than four minutes during the second period in Utah.

"Right now, we are fighting through some adversity," Berube acknowledged. "The guys came through in the third period, did a good job, and ended up winning in a shootout."

Considering the fatigue factor and how things went during the last week, it felt like progress. 

"The third period was good," Berube stressed. "We gave up one chance in the third, not counting OT. We did what we had to do. This has been a long stretch for us on the road. We're 9-3-1 in this stretch, which is really good. Credit to our guys. They had to battle, and they were battling. That is a good team over there. They come at you with a lot of speed. I thought our battle level was really good."

Now the Leafs can catch their breath before hosting the Florida Panthers on Thursday.

Toronto trails Florida by just two points in the race for top spot in the Atlantic Division. The Panthers will play the Boston Bruins on Tuesday night.

"We got to enjoy this win and forget about it," said winger William Nylander, who opened the scoring on Monday with a power-play strike. "I think focus on the positives and move on."

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Nylander, Marner and Auston Matthews have spent more time on the road than anyone, because they were in Montreal and Boston for the 4 Nations Face-Off.  

Nylander is very eager to get home.

"Yeah, it's about time," he said. "I feel like I've been gone forever."

There was one shift on Monday night that probably felt like forever for Nylander. He was caught on the ice for two minutes and 24 seconds in overtime.

"That was such a long shift that I started to feel like I could stay out there," he said with a smile. "Like, I recovered, so that's how long that shift was."

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The Leafs took three minor penalties in the second period, which helped the Utah Hockey Club get back in the game. 

Benoit was whistled for tripping Jack McBain, even though it appeared the forward fell on his own. Utah scored on that man-advantage opportunity. 

Oliver Ekman-Larsson was then called for goalie interference despite being bumped into Karel Vejmelka by Logan Cooley. During the ensuing penalty kill, Scott Laughton was sent to the box for cross-checking Barrett Hayton after the whistle.

"I didn't like the calls, to be honest with you," said Berube. "Put us down 5-on-3 from a pushing match in front of the net. It is what it is."

The Leafs killed off the lengthy 5-on-3 power play.

"To me, it is just a dive," Berube said. "You are already down a man. It has to be pretty blatant to get a 5-on-3. The guys did a good job and killed it off. Wollsy made a couple of big saves there. It was a big part of the game there for us."

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Joseph Woll stopped 29 of 32 shots to pick up the win. He was happy with how he fought back after the second-period surge by Utah. 

"I felt good," the Leafs goalie said. "I spoke about the team's systems and staying to our structure and the same goes for me as an individual and just staying to my game and refocusing and focusing on the next save. I was happy with that and the third and overtime."

"He held us in there and made some big saves," Berube said. "He was really good."

Woll was coming off a couple rocky games. He allowed five goals on 34 shots during a wild overtime win in Pittsburgh on March 2. He was then pulled for the first time in his NHL career last Wednesday after allowing three goals on seven shots in Vegas. 

What did he change to get back on track? 

"I'll keep my secrets to myself," he said with a smile. "The stuff about my game, again, I'll keep personal, but the biggest thing is not to waver from your system, from your structure, from your process. The results aren't always going to be great but, like I said the other day, the bad games, the really bad games, have a good way of being the biggest learning experiences. I'm happy to keep that growth mindset and that positive attitude regardless of the result."

Woll received the team's player-of-the-game belt on Monday night.  

While Woll wasn't willing to go into details about his game, the Missouri native was happy to chat about the atmosphere inside the Delta Center where a sellout crowd of 11,131 fans made their voices heard.  

"It was really loud," Woll said. "Like, surprisingly loud for a first-year organization, and that was awesome. That was one of the cooler environments I've played in, so props to Utah."

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The loudest cheers of the night may have come when Michael Kesselring initiated a fight with Benoit following a controversial goal, which put the Leafs up 3-0.

Utah felt that a shot by Benoit was deflected in by Steven Lorentz who appeared to be holding his stick above the crossbar. But after a review, it was ruled a good goal. 

"I'm playing a little less, so I gotta find ways to impact the game," Kesselring told reporters in the Utah dressing room. "I thought it was a good opportunity. He's a tough kid and respect to him for fighting. He doesn't have to when it's 3-0, but just tried to get the boys going a little bit."

Benoit was seen with a smile on his face before the puck dropped prior to the fight. 

"He wanted to get his guys going there and he asked me and a little smirk," Benoit explained. "He tried to hurt Bobby [McMann] there in the middle faceoff, so I stepped up and protected my teammate."

And Benoit did it in spectacular fashion. He leapt in the air in an attempt to land a flying first punch. 

"It's just in the moment," he said. "I felt I had an opening there and I just took it." 

"That was a little interesting, but whatever," said Kesselring. "It's a fight, so you sign up for it. You know something's coming, so it's all good."

Benoit didn't land the punch, but the attempt had the Leafs bench buzzing.

"I wasn't expecting that," said a grinning Nylander. 

"His Superman punch was pretty cool," said Woll with a laugh. "After that I think I spaced out, I was so taken back by that. He said he did last year, but that was a legit Superman punch. He can chuck 'em."

Benoit also went to that move in a fight with Erik Gudbranson last season. 

"It is something I never did," Berube, a frequent fighter in his playing days, said. "I'm taking notes. I don't know if I've ever seen that. Maybe years ago at some point somebody did it. We actually got a great picture of it in the room. It was pretty cool."

Pictures of Benoit, fist cocked in mid-air, went viral on social media. 

"I haven't looked," Benoit said. "The boys have been telling me about it, but I haven't looked yet."

Kesselring went to the dressing room after hitting his head at the end of the bout, but returned to the game. 

Benoit was spotted in the penalty box popping his thumb back into place. 

"Sometimes when you fight it gets stuck in the jerseys and stuff, so part of the job," he said with a shrug. 

Is it uncomfortable after that? 

"All good," he said. "All good." 

Benoit, by the way, was eventually credited with the goal that precipitated the fight. It's his first goal this season and first since Jan. 27, 2024 when he scored into an empty net to seal a win in Anaheim.

"Right now I have it, so I'll enjoy it," he said. "It feels good. It's been a long time since I've scored on a goalie, technically, so I'll just take it for now."

Benoit's last goal on a goalie came on Jan. 21, 2023 when he played for the Ducks.

What was he thinking during the video review? 

"I just want to win," he said. "At this point of the season we just want to get those two points. They're important. We want to finish first in our division so, for me, as long as we win I don't care about the rest."  

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Calle Jarnkrok also ended a long drought on Monday night. The veteran winger scored his first goal since Jan. 6, 2024. 

"Yeah, it was nice," the 33-year-old Swede said, "but especially to get the win. It was a good feeling. First win of the season for me, so it was nice."

Jarnkrok underwent groin and sports hernia surgery in October and only returned to the Leafs lineup on March 3. Monday was his third game of the season. He started the previous two on the fourth line, but slotted in beside countryman Nylander and John Tavares in Utah. 

"There is a little bit of chemistry between him and Willy, I think," Berube explained. "I like his defensive mindset on that line. We switched it up. I know I had Bobby there yesterday [at practice], but ... I knew they were going to be matched up against one of their top two lines, and there are talented players over there. I wanted a guy who has some really good defensive awareness. He did a good job."

Berube made Jarnkrok a healthy scratch on Saturday in Denver so that he could reset and recover after his first two games. 

Jarnkrok ended up playing 16 minutes on Monday, which was three more than his previous game on Wednesday in Vegas. 

"I felt great," he said. "I just feel like I probably need a couple games to get back to my myself. Kind of felt great for one and a half periods and then got a little tired. Hopefully I can play a little longer next game and keep getting better from there."

Jarnkrok appreciated the opportunity to play higher in the lineup. He also got time on the second power-play unit and his goal actually came on the man advantage. 

"I definitely played more minutes," he said. "You play more minutes and then you get into the game quicker and get your legs going quicker, so I think that was good for me." 

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Leafs lines in Monday's game in Utah: 

Knies - Matthews - Marner
Jarnkrok - Tavares - Nylander 
McMann - Laughton - Domi 
Holmberg - Kampf - Lorentz

McCabe - Ekman-Larsson 
Rielly - Carlo 
Benoit - Myers 

Woll 
Stolarz