For a little bit, it looked like the script for Friday night’s Mitch Marner homecoming with the Vegas Golden Knights was going to be flipped. Vegas took the lead early in this game, at one point working it to a 4-1 deficit over the Toronto Maple Leafs, unlike in the first game when Toronto got the early lead and choked it. The Leafs made it an interesting game by scoring the next two and making it 4-3 Vegas, but a stale power play with seven minutes left in the game gave the Golden Knights the momentum boost they needed to ice the game, eventually taking it 6-3.
As fun as it would have been to make Marner the centre of attention and talk about how the anticipated boos affected him, one way or another, he was quiet in this game and took himself out of the spotlight entirely. He had no points in the win for Vegas and only one shot on goal, so there wasn’t much to speak about from that point of view.
On the Leafs’ side, Vegas had more juice from the get-go, and combined with some obvious rust from goaltender Anthony Stolarz in his first game back since November 11, they piled on enough at the start of the game to ensure a win. Mark Stone scored two goals and added an assist to lead the way for the gold and black, and the Leafs had goals from John Tavares, Scott Laughton, and Bobby McMann to keep themselves in it.
It feels like we’ve been a broken record saying this all year, but the Leafs’ ability to comfortably drop points in games like this diminishes by the day. They’ve now lost three games in a row and sit on the outside looking into the playoff picture, and while they’re still as in it as any other team, the rest of the Atlantic has shown that they have no desire to slow down. These losses are going to hurt them more and more as they approach what will be a much-needed Olympic break.
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