Mitchell Marner will try to match the Toronto Maple Leafs’ record of 18 straight games with at least one point Wednesday night against the visiting San Jose Sharks.
Marner scored in the Maple Leafs’ 4-2 victory over the Detroit Red Wings on Monday as the Leafs completed a 4-0-0 road trip.
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The Sharks opened their own four-game trip Tuesday night with a 4-0 victory over the Montreal Canadiens.
During his 17-game points streak, Marner has six goals and 17 assists. Darryl Sittler (Jan. 26 to March 8, 1978) and Eddie Olczyk (Dec. 2, 1989, to Jan. 8, 1990) each had 18-game point streaks, the longest in Maple Leafs history.
“It’s a hard league, man,” Marner said. “I’m not expecting this every night. It’s more important (to get) wins; that’s what we have been doing, and that’s why this feels great.
“Nothing is ever achievable in this game by yourself. It’s always kudos to your teammates. I’m trying to find spots where I can get the puck in my hands to make plays and try to find people in open ice.”
Matt Murray made a season-high 42 saves Monday against the Red Wings.
“This was not our best game of the trip — credit to Detroit,” Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe said. “They made life hard on us to get out of our zone, but our goaltending was outstanding again. We defended way too much, but especially in periods 2 and 3, we did not give up the big chance. The guys did a good job of allowing Matt to see the puck.”
The Maple Leafs have been coping well with injuries to defensemen Morgan Rielly (knee), TJ Brodie (oblique) and Jake Muzzin (neck).
“The team game is making everybody better,” Keefe said. “There are a lot of teams that deal with a lot of injuries and find a way to win. We’re a good enough team that we’re going to find our way on the right side of it.”
The Sharks placed goaltender James Reimer (lower-body injury) on injured reserve Monday and recalled forward Jeffrey Viel from the San Jose Barracuda of the American Hockey League. Viel played seven minutes, 22 seconds on Tuesday with no points and one minor penalty.
Sharks goaltender Kaapo Kahkonen stopped 28 shots in Montreal to earn his third career shutout. Kahkonen has a 3-5-2 record with an .884 save percentage.
“That’s great, but it also tells a lot about the way we played as a team tonight,” Kahkonen told NBC Sports California about his first Sharks shutout. “Huge blocks, huge kills, good sticks on the (penalty kill), taking away seams and boxing out guys so I could see pucks.”
The Sharks won for just the second time in their past seven games (2-4-1).
“We needed (the win),” Sharks coach David Quinn said. “Obviously, it was a funny game. We haven’t had that type of game in a long time, so special teams were huge, our penalty kill was huge.”
Aaron Dell, recalled from the Barracuda last weekend, was the backup goaltender on Tuesday.
Center Nico Sturm (head) and defensemen Mario Ferraro (lower-body injury) are also on IR.
–Field Level Media
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