BUFFALO – When he entered the NHL as a 23-year-old college free agent, Tyler Bozak fielded a landslide of questions about his size and whether being perceived as undersized would ultimately impede his professional career.

Seven seasons and 267 career points later, Bozak has put those queries to rest. He has also filled out to 6-foot-1. So if anyone understands what Mitch Marner, frequently interrogated about his own size (6'0"), has gone through since being drafted last year, it’s Bozak.

“Oh yeah, [I heard about my size] all the time. I’m sure Mitch gets that a lot too,” Bozak said. “[Mitch] is so smart [though] and he knows how to elude checks, he knows how to use his body the best he can in one-on-one battles. I’ve seen him out there against big guys winning battles, he knows how to use his body, use his weight.”

In Friday night’s preseason game, Bozak got an even better look at where Marner’s game is at. He centered the 19-year-old winger and Peter Holland on the Toronto Maple Leafs' top line against the Buffalo Sabres. The Leafs won the lopsided affair 8-1, putting on an offensive show in a building that hasn’t been kind to them in recent years.

Bozak noted before Friday’s game how Marner’s confidence has improved since the preseason a year ago, and his linemate has played like it. Whether throwing his body along the boards to keep a play onside or outworking a defender in a corner to win a puck battle, Marner is showing off the full spectrum of his game.

“I feel more comfortable this year than last year, that’s obviously important for my game,” he said. “It’s about controlling the puck and trying to make plays. But it’s pretty easy with guys like Bozak and Holland out there.”

Since Bozak arrived in the days before camp began, he and Marner have been able to start bonding. As Marner continues to develop his game for the NHL level, having a mentor on and off the ice who has endured some of the same struggles can help take the edge off.

“[Bozak] was great tonight. He’s been a lot of help throughout the few weeks I’ve been here,” Marner said. “He’s been a guy that I’ve looked up to and he was great out there again tonight.”

Marner finished the night with two assists, putting him at four points in his two preseason games. A year ago, Marner skated in two contests as well, and recorded zero points. After playing with him, Holland, who scored twice on Friday, lamented they didn’t connect even more.

“We could have had three or four more,” he said. “Marns has got some unbelievable hands and he’s a heads-up player so you’ve always got to have your stick on the ice when he has the puck.”

“All three of them found ice. They’re three offensive players, all three creative [players],” interim head coach Jim Hiller added. “Right now it looks like if you get Mitch the puck and you find open ice, he’s going to find you.”

Bozak was the only one on the line who didn’t register a point, finishing plus-one in his first preseason action. A veteran at 30 years old, Bozak laughed about how much more confident young players like Marner are coming into the league than he was. But like Bozak, Marner has had to prove his doubters wrong.

“He’s just extremely skilled, real smart with the puck,” Bozak said. “Makes great plays, also has the ability to score too. I watched the game in Halifax and just seeing him carry the puck up the ice and weaving his way up the ice and finding the open guys. It’s a lot of fun [to watch].”


Takeaways

- After sputtering offensively in Thursday’s 1-0 shootout loss to the Sabres, Toronto roared back with a vengeance on Friday. 15 of their 18 skaters registered at least one point, with six grabbing two or more. Six different players were on the scoresheet with a goal.

- At the end of recent training camp days, working on point shots has been a popular activity. The practice paid dividends for defenders on Friday. Matt Hunwick rocketed two goals from the blue line (one with a deflection off the Sabres’ Brady Austin) in the span of 12 seconds late in the first period to put Toronto up 5-1. Jake Gardiner followed his lead late in the second on a 5-on-3 power play, sending a puck from the point through traffic and top shelf on goaltender John Muse.

- Frank Corrado also had a standout game on defence, registering three assists. He finished a plus-5, something he said he can’t remember happening since junior hockey. “Frankie played great tonight, he made a lot of heads-up plays in the offensive zone,” Holland said. “[He was] shooting for sticks, not just putting the puck on net, to make sure we were getting deflections and really throwing off their defence and their goalie.”

- Much like Kerby Rychel, forward Kasperi Kapanen has gotten a bit lost amid all of Toronto’s burgeoning offensive talents. On Friday, he showed signs of separating from the crowd. Using his body to assert himself in front of the net and getting pucks through traffic paid off with his first points of the preseason. He assisted on Hunwick’s second goal of the first period and then tallied his own marker, a wrister top shelf on Muse.

- Toronto’s goaltenders have had a strong showing in the preseason since their first contest in Halifax, where Antoine Bibeau and Kasimir Kaskisuo combined to give up six goals. Since then, they’ve been mostly lights out. Garret Sparks was a perfect 17-for-17 to start Thursday’s game and Kaskisuo stopped all 22 shots he faced in the second half plus overtime before the fourth shootout goal gave Buffalo a win. On Friday, Jhonas Enroth stopped eight of the nine shots he faced through one and a half periods, and Bibeau finished the game by stopping final 14.

- Barely back from his World Cup gig, head coach Mike Babcock took in Friday’s game from a suite after observing practice earlier in the day. Having just experienced a thrilling victory, he reiterated his eagerness to bring that feeling to his day job. “It’s an exciting time to be a Leaf, to be in the organization,” he said before the game. “It’s a much different situation that we were at this time last year. Onward and upward kind of thing. I really believe we’re going to get to relive that experience we had last night in the National Hockey League in Toronto. We just have to keep building our program around here and be patient and go in the right direction.”