Maple Leafs’ Mitch Marner barking up a fitting tribute … Hollowell adjusts to blue line

DETROIT — Mitch Marner is going to the dogs.

In this case, it’s a good thing. 

The Maple Leafs winger, riding a 16-game point streak before the Leafs and Detroit Red Wings clashed on Monday night, never has his beloved chocolate Lab, Zeus, far from his mind.

That includes during games, as Marner has taken to writing a capital Z on his glove and stick.

“I don’t have any kids and people are probably going to think I’m crazy, but yeah, that’s my guy,” Marner said after the morning skate at Little Caesars Arena. “He doesn’t have a damn clue what I do for a living, doesn’t have a damn clue what anyone thinks about me. He just loves me for being his dad and buzzing around outdoors with him. That’s why I put him on there for the little remembrance, to have fun. 

“I go out there and buzz around and try be a difference-maker and help this team win games … Try to do what he does when he’s out there in the field, buzz around and chase down the ball and be a big force.”

While the points have come to be expected from Marner — he recorded a career-high 97 last season and was on pace for 96 through the first 23 games of 2022-23 — other attributes are just as evident to his teammates.

“What he can do on the forecheck, I think isn’t talked about enough — his ability to read the play, strip defenders, create opportunities,” Leafs captain John Tavares said. “We think of forechecking as being big and physical and strong and heavy on the puck. 

“He does it with a great stick and an understanding of how to use his his skill set to make it difficult on the opponent. That has been a real strong point to his game of late.”

Marner had some insight into what makes him effective on the attack. His 24 takeaways, while not all on the forecheck, were tied for fourth-most in the National Hockey League before Monday.

“I try to read the play, I try to listen out there, to hear what D-men are saying and try to watch where their eyes are and try to see what the next option is,” Marner said. “It works sometimes, but also you need to switch it up, go in there trying to get body first and then get the puck. I try to use my instincts.”

MAC MAKES GOOD

Less than a week after anticipating his first game in the NHL, Mac Hollowell came out the other side admirably, averaging 12 minutes 34 seconds in his first three matches. 

“I thought it has gone pretty good,” Hollowell said after the morning skate. “There have been some hiccups, but that was to be expected.”

What has been the biggest adjustment for the 24-year-old defenceman? 

“The guys I’m playing against are a lot bigger and stronger,” said Hollowell, who is listed at 5-foot-9 and 170 pounds. “But I’d say in some parts it’s almost a little easier playing with some of these (Leafs), with the skill level they have. They’re always in the right spots. That makes it a bit easier for me than down at the AHL level.”

The size issue has always been a fact of hockey life for Hollowell, not that it has been an impediment. The Leafs’ fourth-round pick in 2018, Hollowell earned his pro wings with the Toronto Marlies after a productive junior career with the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds. 

“I’ve been undersized my whole life, so I’ve learned little techniques and little things that are going to help me against bigger guys,” Hollowell said “A lot of it is mental and believing in myself and knowing I can play at this level and be out there and succeed.”

The Leafs’ solid structure has helped, but there has been more to Hollowell’s ability to adjust.

“He has just worked hard,” Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe said. “He has experience at the AHL level, he has earned callups in the past, he has played well for us in the preseason.

“The way that he skates and moves the puck, guys like that feel comfortable on the ice because the pace is not overwhelming them.”

NOT WINGIN’ IT

There’s a renewed confidence in a Red Wings team that had won four in a row and lost just twice in regulation in its previous 11 games prior to Monday.

Still, coach Derek Lalonde, in his first season behind the Detroit bench after four years as an assistant coach with the Tampa Bay Lightning, does not want to look too far ahead. 

The Wings, 11-5-4 and in third place in the Atlantic Division prior to facing the Leafs, have not made a post-season appearance since 2016.

“We’ve been so caught up in trying to do things right,” Lalonde said. “I don’t know how realistic talking about playoffs is right now, not to discredit our group. They’ve got everything they have deserved up to this point. 

“It’s more of where this Eastern Conference is. It’s going to take 100, 100-plus points, the way it’s trending, to get in the playoffs. 

“I don’t know if it’s a belief thing. We have not really talked about it. We’re having success right now because we are focused on our day-to-day.”

tkoshan@postmedia.com

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