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TSN Toronto Maple Leafs Reporter

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TORONTO – After getting shut out by the Calgary Flames in their first meeting of the season, the Toronto Maple Leafs returned the favour Monday night, blanking the visiting Flames 4-0.

The win halted a two-game slide for Toronto, and marked Frederik Andersen’s second shutout of the season. Toronto now finishes this five-game segment with seven points, putting them one off the pace Mike Babcock set early in the season as a playoff trajectory.

Monday also marked a historic night for Nazem Kadri, who tallied his 100th career goal in the second period, and his 101st in the third on the power play. His 20-goal total on the season matches his career-high from 2013-14. It was his fourth multi-goal game of the year.

“It’s exciting to be able to share it with my teammates. I put in a lot of hard work but at the end of the day the only reason I care about [milestones] is because it helps my team win,” Kadri said. “We’re starting to get more familiar with playing with leads now and understanding how to play well with them.”

Both sides were fairly listless in the first period until near the end, when Mitch Marner redirected a point blast from Nikita Zaitsev past Brian Elliott. It was Marner’s first goal in seven games, and the first of two points he would earn. His 39 on the season put him one ahead of teammate Auston Matthews for the NHL’s rookie scoring lead.

“We came in and played the way we wanted to,” Marner said of the Maple Leafs’ effort. “We got our power play back on track which was nice. We really got a lot of scoring chances that built a lot of confidence for us.”

More importantly, Marner thought Toronto was avoiding one of its most frequent pitfalls.

Toronto was leading 2-0 when the game took a turn for the physical. Midway through the second frame, Leo Komarov laid a hit on Johnny Gaudreau along the boards that seemed to push the winger’s stick hard into his chin. As Gaudreau lay on the ice, Mark Giordano jumped in for a short bout with Komarov. Gaudreau left the game to undergo concussion protocol but returned before the period was over.

Komarov was assessed a roughing minor, but nothing for the hit itself. Afterwards Gaudreau said he wasn’t sure where he was hit exactly but that he felt fine, and acknowledged hits like that are part of the game.

“I’m sure they weren’t too happy about that, but nothing wrong with it,” Kadri said of the scuffle. “That’s just a hockey hit. Good for Leo standing up for himself, but after that I think the game started getting a bit more physical.”

“It looked a little bit worse than it was,” Komarov added. “He’s a bit of a smaller guy. I think it was a good hit.”

Babcock didn’t discuss whether he thought Komarov might face further discipline from the league (“that’s not up to me”) but Marner said while the situation didn’t escalate out of hand, it was a reminder to be constantly “cautious” on the ice.

“When the score gets up, teams still want to play the same way but no one wants to hurt anyone on purpose,” he said. “You just want to have your radar up the whole time and put yourself in situations that are good for you. [For us], we played fast tonight, but we didn’t get off track. We played the game we wanted to play and that was important for our team.”


Takeaways

Hot and cold: After being held off the scoresheet in Saturday’s shootout loss, Toronto’s rookies were back in full force, producing five of the team’s nine points. Along with Marner taking over the rookie scoring lead – not to mention the Maple Leafs’ team lead in scoring – William Nylander pulled even with Matthew Tkachuk for fourth place among rookies with 30 points. On the other side, Matthews’ blistering pace has slowed lately – Monday was his third straight game without a point, the first time he’s gone through such a stretch since Nov. 12-17. Marner said after the key for every rookie is about contributing in all ways, not just offensively, saying that group has been successful because they help out defensively and can be an outlet at all times.

Staying steady: Andersen was visibly frustrated after Saturday’s shootout loss to the Ottawa Senators, and he bounced back with a stellar performance against the Flames. He turned aside all 26 shots he faced and was integral to the penalty kill, shutting down a 2-on-1 chance by the team with the most shorthanded goals in the league (eight). Andersen’s .920 save percentage ranks 10th in the NHL among goaltenders with at least 10 starts.

Hyman’s heroics: For the second time in three games, Zach Hyman tallied a short-handed goal, and is now the only NHL rookie to have more than one. As the team’s best forechecker – and as good as anyone in the league at it – his penalty killing abilities are irreplaceable on the fourth-ranked unit. On Monday they were perfect against the Flames, even as Toronto did a poor job avoiding the bad stick penalties that have plagued them all season. The Maple Leafs went 5-for-5 on the kill, and are 45-for-50 over their last 14 games.

Crisis averted?: With Morgan Rielly already lost to a lower-body injury for an indeterminate amount of time (he’s listed as day-to-day), Toronto looked like they could be in trouble when Martin Marincin went down in pain at the end of Monday’s game. Tkachuk slewfooted the defender – just back from injury himself – in front of Andersen’s net; Marincin was in distress as trainers helped him to the dressing room as time expired. But Babcock said after the game Marincin would be fine, which would be a relief considering the precarious place the team’s defence is already in. Except for an untimely delay of game penalty on Saturday, Marincin has been fine in his two games back. He and partner Nikita Zaitsev were among only a handful of Maple Leafs to post positive possession numbers against Calgary. He also paced the team in short-handed minutes at 6:34.

Next game: Toronto gets back on the road for one more back-to-back before the All-Star Break. They will visit Mike Babcock’s old team in Detroit on Wednesday, and then head to Philadelphia to play the Flyers on Thursday.