Marner scored two five-on-five goals and one on the power play for his first hat-trick since February 2022.
Marner scored two five-on-five goals and one on the power play for his first hat-trick since February 2022.
The story prior to the game was Toronto's depleted defense. But following the Maple Leafs 4-3 shootout win over Seattle, the story was all Mitch Marner. And them going to overtime for the 10th time this season.
Toronto had a 3-1 lead heading into the third period, but Jared McCann and Eeli Tolvanen found the back of the net in the final frame, forcing the game to overtime. Neither team could score in OT and the Maple Leafs went to the shootout for the second-straight game.
A huge save by Joseph Woll late in overtime on Jordan Eberle allowed Toronto to remain in the game.
"Confidence," Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe of Woll's game. "When he gives up two goals in the third, he's right there to make the next save. He was great in the shootout too."
Woll stopped 37 of 40 shots on goal and now has a .917 save percentage through 13 games this season.
"It's a lot of fun when the game is on the line. The opportunity to step up, and with more space out there, guys are making plays, so (I'm) just trying to enjoy it," Woll said about his why he's so strong in overtime and the shootout.
Auston Matthews and Marner would score in the shootout to give the Maple Leafs their 12th win of the season. But even though Toronto was forced to their 10th overtime of the season, the team understands they're doing the right things.
"It's a hard league, man. Two points is two points at the end of the day," Jake McCabe said following the game.
Keefe followed McCabe's comments up with the same sentiment.
"We've been in the situation a lot," Keefe said of why the team can't close out games. "At the end of the day, this is a really hard league to get points in and I just looked before I came in and talked to you fine folks, there's 23 teams below us in the standings right now, and we haven't played our best hockey.
"We're in a pretty good place while we continue to work through the things that we have to improve upon. And the points that we've accumulated to this point are not nothing. There's a lot of good things happening to put us in those positions. Obviously we know we have to continue to improve in the areas that will get us on the other side of it, so we don't have to go to overtime or shootout or anything like that."
The Marner hat-trick
After not scoring in the last eight games, Marner had a hat-trick on Thursday night, just the second of his career. His first-ever hat-trick came in the wild 10-7 game against the Detroit Red Wings in February 2022.
Marner's first came on the power play in the first period. It was a goal which seemed to have lifted some weight off his shoulders judging by his celebration after scoring. It was a great passing play all around by Auston Matthews and then William Nylander to find Marner.
The 26-year-old's second goal of the game came at five-on-five, just after one of the the Kraken's penalties ended. It was another setup by Matthews, who found Marner for the one-timer, which beat Philipp Grubauer over the shoulder after a deflection from Adam Larsson.
Marner's third goal came late in the second period with Jake McCabe sending the forward on a breakaway. He was able to beat Grubauer over the shoulder for his eighth goal of the season.
"That's vintage Mitch Marner breaking away like that and capitalizing," Keefe said following the win.
Following the hat-trick goal, the crowd stood for several minutes while hats rained the ice. As the ice crew kept picking up hats, fans would continue throwing them onto the ice in elation for Marner.
The 26-year-old forward would get the game belt following the game.
The Bertuzzi-Tavares-Marner line
It wasn't just Marner who had a strong game for the Maple Leafs. The entire line, consisting of he, Tyler Bertuzzi, and John Tavares played great at both ends of the rink on Thursday. The line had a number of chances, too, which is positive given the line changes that came earlier this week.
The trio finished the game with eight shots on goal and a 78.55 xGF% at five-on-five, according to NaturalStatTrick.com.
Toronto will have a day off tomorrow before taking on the Boston Bruins on Saturday night inside Scotiabank Arena.
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