Marner streak fuels road sweep

Winger on 17-game run isn’t the only hot hand, which is bad news for the rest of Atlantic

Mitch Marner loves to score and loves to win. Right now, he and the Maple Leafs are doing both.

Marner extended his points streak to 17 games with a goal in the Maple Leafs’ 4-2 win over the Red Wings on Monday night, sweeping a four-game road trip that included stops in New Jersey, Minnesota and Pittsburgh.

Marner is just one game shy of the Leafs record set by Darryl Sittler in 1977-78 and tied in 1989-90 by Ed Olczyk, with the chance to tie the mark Wednesday at home to the San Jose Sharks.

“It’s a hard league, man,” said Marner. “I’m not expecting this every night. I’m just trying to go out there and buzz and be myself and try and make plays, and it’s been working. Got to stick with that. Guys have been great finishing pucks for me, and giving me the pucks that I’ve been lucky enough to score with, as well.

“The wins are more important and that’s what we’ve been doing, and that’s why this feels great.”

More bad news for the rest of the Atlantic Division: it’s been more than Marner doing the scoring lately. Auston Matthews, William Nylander and Rasmus Sandin — with his first of the season — also scored for the Leafs, who had at least four goals for the seventh time in 24 games. Five of those outbursts have come in the last eight contests.

Matthews, in particular, seems to have woken up, scoring like last year with that hard snapshot in each of the last two games. Scoring at even strength was his forte last year and that, too, seems to be heating up. He had three points Saturday in Pittsburgh, including a fiveon-five goal, and a goal and an assist Monday.

“It always helps to score and it’s always fun to win,” said Matthews. “We just want to keep it rolling … This was a big road trip for us. It felt like a bit of a long one, but it’s good to get a lot of points on this one. Now we go home and want to make sure that we continue to push.”

Michael Bunting has four points in his last three games, while Nylander has been fairly consistent, including goals in three straight games. When the big horses are going, they’re a hard team to catch.

“They’re an elite team that’s playing very well right now,” said Wings coach Derek Lalonde. “What’s been most impressive with watching Toronto is their ability to play the right way. And they’re doing (it without) that defensive core that they’ve lost.”

Winning anyway

The Leafs are 4-0-0 without Morgan Rielly (knee injury) and 7-0-2 without T.J. Brodie (oblique). They’re also 10-1-4 in their last 15 after completing a four-game road sweep to move within three points of first-place Boston. The Bruins have three games in hand.

“Any time you lose a guy, it stings and it sucks and then you just get to work,” said coach Sheldon Keefe. “Whether you’re coach or a player, you’ve just got to press on.”

On top of that, goalie Matt Murray is 5-0-1 since returning from injury, after putting in another solid performance in net — turning aside 42 of 44 shots as the Red Wings pressed when trailing. He’s faced fewer than 30 shots just once in that span.

“I thought the guys did a good job of allowing Murray to see the puck and the way he’s playing, he’s stopping it,” Keefe said.

Marner magic

The accolades for Marner have been arriving regularly during his 17-game run.

“When you get in a rhythm, when you’re an elite player like that, you just feel like every shift you’re going to make a difference,” said Keefe. “He’s feeling it with the puck.”

Matthews scores

The Leafs didn’t score first, but they did have the early lead. After Seider jumped on a Matthews giveaway for the opening goal, the Leafs centre returned the favour, scoring less than four minutes later. It was his second goal in two games.

Rookie Mac Hollowell sent the play up ice to Bunting, earning his first career NHL point. Nylander then scored on a power play for a 2-1 lead. It was his third career shot against Wings goalie Ville Husso, all goals.

Though the Wings carried the play and led 12-5 in shots, it was the Leafs with a 2-1 lead.

Goalie change

The Leafs chased Husso by scoring twice in the second to open a 4-1 lead.

But Sandin’s shot from the point, with Bunting running interference, was what caused the Wings to bring in Alex Nedeljkovic.