PITTSBURGH — Mitch Marner keeps producing and the Maple Leafs keep winning hockey games.
It’s not a coincidence.
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Marner extended his point streak to 16 games and the Leafs won for the ninth time in 14 games, beating the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-1 on Saturday night at PPG Paints Arena.
The Leafs, who conclude a four-game trip in Detroit against the Red Wings on Monday, are humming.
In bringing an end to the Penguins’ five-game winning streak, the Leafs improved to 5-0 on the road in November and are 4-0-1 in the second game of back-to-back sets on the season.
Marner required all of 40 seconds to match his streak to his sweater number.
A bad Penguins line change coupled with the Leafs’ quickness in transition gave Marner a chance to break in alone on goalie Casey DeSmith after taking a pass from Auston Matthews.
“We have to respect their transition game,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said a few hours before the opening faceoff. “They have one of the most dangerous quick-strike attacks in the league. Some of it is personnel-based, some of it is their scheme and their game plan. They stretch the ice as good as any team in the league.”
Marner deked to his forehand to score, becoming the sixth Leaf in franchise history to record at least one point in 16 games in a row. Darryl Sittler set the record of 18 in 1977-78 and Ed Olczyk tied it in 1989-90. Babe Dye, playing for the St. Patricks in 1921-22, hit 16 games; so did John Anderson in 1983-84 and Dave Andreychuk in 1993-94.
Marner’s streak started on Oct. 27 in San Jose. He has five goals and 17 assists during the run.
With Matt Murray getting a well-earned rest, Erik Kallgren rebounded nicely from his latest start, which went down in flames on Monday night in Toronto. Kallgren’s giveaway late in the third allowed the New York Islanders to tie the game before the Isles won in overtime.
“I don’t over-think it, I’m going to be honest,” Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe said Saturday morning, referring to Kallgren’s game versus the Islanders. “These games come fast and furious, so we just focus on the game that’s coming. I have already forgotten about that situation.
“Erik has dealt with different situations that have come his way very well throughout his time here, so he will be ready to go.”
Indeed. Kallgren made 25 saves and improved to 3-2-4, allowing only a goal to Rickard Rakell in the third period.
After the Rakell goal, Matthews scored his 10th after a good effort from Michael Bunting.
The Leafs brought it early, outshooting the Penguins 17-5 and holding a 26-14 edge in shot attempts in the first period.
Matthews continued to have a bit of a battle with the puck in the initial stages. He couldn’t make a pass on a two-on-one despite having time, and in the final seconds of the first, whiffed on a one-timer following a feed from Marner.
The 2021-22 Hart Trophy winner made amends in the second period when he set up William Nylander to give the Leafs a 3-0 lead at 10:50. Matthews won a puck battle with Rickard Rakell and centred to an open Nylander, who quickly fired the puck past DeSmith.
That came 55 seconds after Pontus Holmberg’s second NHL goal. Marner did the work, perhaps getting away without a call after he upended Kris Letang in the corner and took possession. Holmberg took the pass and went high-glove on DeSmith.
At any rate, the Leafs’ determination on the forecheck helped produce both goals in the second. Bunting, who hit the crossbar early in the second, also had a hand in the Nylander goal.
The Penguins had been applying pressure before the Holmberg goal and appeared to have scored when Rakell knocked a loose puck over the goal line. But the goal did not count as the play was deemed dead.
LOOSE LEAFS
Other than Kallgren, the lone lineup change from the win in Minnesota on Friday saw Denis Malgin come back in with Wayne Simmonds coming out. Winger Nick Robertson was scratched for the second game in a row, a pattern that does little or nothing for his development, never mind his confidence … Goalie Ilya Samsonov, who suffered a knee injury on Nov. 5 against Boston, has been back on the ice during the trip. “I would say he’s progressing really well,” Keefe said. “It seems like he’s doing more and is less limited each day. I would say we’re getting there (for Samsonov’s return).”
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