TORONTO — Mitch Marner inexplicably looked to pass with history on the post and an empty net staring him down.
The Maple Leafs winger fired another shot wide of the yawning cage in the waning moments on Wednesday, narrowly missing another chance at glory as the Scotiabank Arena crowd groaned.
Marner would get one more chance to etch his name in the record books for the team he cheered for as a kid.
This time, finally, he didn’t miss.
Marner scored on an empty netter to tie a franchise record 18-game point streak after Pierre Engvall put Toronto ahead with 2:27 left in regulation as the Leafs beat the San Jose Sharks 3-1 .
Marner now shares the mark with Darryl Sittler (1977-78) and Eddie Olcyzk (1989-90), but not after some nervous moments.
“Yeah, I mean, have you seen me? I can’t wait to talk to my dad,” the 25-year-old said when asked if there was a sense of relief. “He’ll say, ‘What the hell are you doing on that first-down pass?’ (Leafs winger Michael Bunting), on the bench, when he looked at me, he couldn’t believe I was trying to pass him too.
“I was angry.”
Marner is the 23rd player in NHL history with a point streak of at least 18 games, scoring seven goals and 17 assists during his redshirt career.
“The first few tries we’re like, ‘What are you doing?’ Like, put it in the net and let’s go home … let’s get it over with,” said Auston Matthews, who had the Leafs’ other goal. of Marner’s late mistakes.
“Just so glad it ended up coming in.”
Ilya Samsonov made 23 saves for Toronto (15-5-5), while Alexander Kerfoot had two assists.
Matt Nieto responded for San Jose (8-14-4). Aaron Dell, briefly a member of the Leafs in 2020-21 before being claimed on waivers, stopped 29 shots with the back-to-back Sharks.
“It’s all up to me,” said San Jose center Tomas Hertl, who turned the puck into Engvall’s goal. “It cost us two points because I made a stupid move.”
Toronto, coming off a four-game sweep of New Jersey, Minnesota, Pittsburgh and Detroit, improved to 8-0-2 over its last 10 games and 11-1-4 over its last 16.
Engvall buried his third goal of the season off a Kerfoot rebound off Hertl’s layup.
Marner then had those two opportunities at the open net before finally burying his eighth with 1:11 left in regulation for his record-tying point that was greeted with a standing ovation in his hometown.
“That meant a lot,” said the Markham, Ont., product. “A kid growing up (here), he never would have expected this.”
Samsonov, meanwhile, predicted the streak would continue on Tuesday, and the goalkeeper was right.
“I looked to the future,” he said with a smile.
“He made it interesting,” Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe added of Marner. “You start to feel like it might not happen.
“But he stuck with it.”
Marner and Matthews, who set a franchise record with 60 goals en route to winning last season’s Maurice (Rocket) Richard Trophy, shared a special moment on the bench after the empty net.
“We’ve been through a lot together,” Marner said. “Obviously I also want to try to achieve big things together. I was with him in those big moments when he had them last year. For him to be so happy and excited for me meant a lot.
“He is my brother.”
Meanwhile, the Leafs have fared very well without their top three defensemen injured – Morgan Rielly (knee), TJ Brodie (oblique) and Jake Muzzin (neck) – but were lucky to come out of the opener unscathed after Wednesday to give up three escapes. and two dangerous odd man races.
“Good warm-up,” joked Samsonov. “Thanks…guards. I needed some confidence.”
Toronto took a 1-0 lead at 4:19 of the second when rookie blueliner Mac Hollowell, recently elevated from the AHL, found Matthews on a slap shot for his 12th assist.
“Nice play,” Matthews said. “Great vision, great balance.”
San Jose answered at 7:26 when Logan Couture fed Nieto his sixth to Samsonov, who returned to the lineup after missing the last 12 games with a sore knee, before the late drama provided by Marner’s mistakes , and an eventual historical moment.
“We’re definitely starting to get stressed,” Marner said. “But try not to.”
“We were losing it a little bit there,” Matthews added with a smile. “It was a little scary.
“Third time’s a charm.”
JARNKROK OUT
Toronto’s Jarnkrok Street suffered a groin injury in the second period and did not return. Keefe said an image will be taken Thursday to determine the extent of the damage, but added the reliable forward will miss some time.
UNTIL THE NEXT
Leafs: Visit Tampa Bay on Saturday.
Sharks: Visit Ottawa on Saturday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on November 30, 2022.
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