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Maple Leafs report cards: Mitch Marner shines, Luke Schenn returns in win over Flames

Maple Leafs report cards: Mitch Marner shines, Luke Schenn returns in win over Flames

A new-look Toronto team made its official debut Thursday night, with all six recent acquisitions getting in the lineup.

It wasn’t always pretty. In fact, the first period was quite sloppy. But integrating six new players into the lineup — with Luke Schenn and Erik Gustafsson making their debuts — isn’t easy. The team got better as the game went on with a strong third period to close out a 2-1 win over Calgary on the second night of a back-to-back. If nothing else, the game was much better than the poor showing in Edmonton on Wednesday night.

Could there be more changes to come on deadline day Friday? We’ll find out soon enough. Until then, let’s hand out grades.

First Star

Mitch Marner

Game score did not favour Marner — or his linemates tonight — likely due to the amount of chances Calgary got against them while at five-on-five (shot attempts were 16-10 in favour of Calgary). However, Marner was dancing around a lot tonight, and scored the Leafs’ opening goal in the second, in impressive fashion — as Marner does.

This was one of those nights where the puck seemed to always be on Marner’s stick, and he was almost always doing something with it. He had eight shots on goal and seven individual shot attempts.

Marner was driving play in transition:

And making some great plays in the offensive zone:

Oh, and he came up with a critical defensive play in the third period:

I’m going with the eye test on this one, tonight.

Second Star

Luke Schenn

I was going to give Luke Schenn the first star just because it’s wild to see him back in Toronto, but Marner was too good to do that. However, I have no issue giving him a second star. Sometimes we can have fun in these report cards, and appreciating Schenn putting on a No. 2 Leafs jersey after 10 years out of the organization is fun! Even Marner was doing it.

“Watching him when I was growing up (and) he was just blowing guys up,” he said pregame. “Not much has changed so it’s good to have him on our side.”

Schenn looked good, albeit in limited minutes (10:42), in his first game back since April 7, 2012. In that time though, he blocked two shots and tied for the team lead in hits (four). Schenn brings a physical element to the blue line that the Leafs were missing. I’ll admit, the second star is a bit of the nostalgia factor winning over, but it’s also fun to think about Schenn crushing people in the playoffs. 

Also, he got the belt, so nobody can yell at me about this.

Third Star 

Joseph Woll

All Toronto needed Woll to do tonight was give them a chance to win. I know that sounds really corny, but it’s true, and he did just that.

I don’t blame him for the Blake Coleman goal against, plenty of goalies would have no chance on a clear breakaway like that. Otherwise he was sharp, and statistically perfect making 25 saves on 26 shots.

One thing I really liked about Woll’s game tonight, was that he did well to freeze pucks under pressure and not give the Flames too many second-chance opportunities. I recall that being a bit of an issue in a previous game he played this year, and he cleaned that area up tonight.

Player reports

A

Calle Jarnkrok

Jarnkrok gave the leafs the go-ahead goal with a nice play in tight to beat his childhood pal, Jacob Markstrom, in the third period. The hands, to pull the puck back and tuck it in with pressure behind him from Nikita Zadorov, were impressive. That gets him a solid grade in my books.

A-

John Tavares 

Tavares didn’t get a point in this game, but he was still impactful in all three zones, and the faceoff circle with an 81 percent efficiency. And with the Leafs’ captain on the ice in all situations, the Flames only had 10 shot attempts. Only five of those attempts made it to the net.

Mark Giordano 

Giordano was looking young and fresh against his former team, particularly when he danced around Milan Lucic in the first period for a solid scoring chance. I know it’s Lucic, but Giordano is 39 years old!

With lots of new faces in the lineup, and some shuffling of the D pairs with seven guys in the lineup tonight, Giordano provided a steadying presence when he was on the ice.

Jake McCabe and TJ Brodie

There’s been a lot of talk about Jake McCabe and TJ Brodie being the new Leafs shutdown pair and while that’s true — they really didn’t allow many dangerous chances against, and were not on the ice for a goal against — let’s not forget that McCabe brings some decent offence to the table too. He has a solid release and put that on display with a few good offensive looks in this game. We know that it helps to ride shotgun with Brodie because you know he’ll be there for you if you decide to jump into the play, and I wonder how much offence that will unlock for McCabe. It’s early but there’s reason to be optimistic about with this duo.

B+

William Nylander 

Nylander had a few moments where he appeared to be coasting and got beat by someone on the Flames, like the first period power play when Mikael Backlund blew by him for a short-handed chance. But, he also had moments where he was impossible to knock off the puck, like in the first when he drew a penalty on Rasmus Andersson.

And, he forced the turnover that led to what would be the game-winning goal from Jarnkrok.

Call it a bit of a mixed bag, but overall a much better night from Nylander.

B

Auston Matthews

Matthews needed a bounce back after the game in Edmonton last night, and I thought he did just that. He was skating hard, creating in transition and was getting to open spots in the offensive zone. His eight shots on goal was tied for the team lead with Marner, and his 10 individual unblocked shot attempts were the most by a single player in the game at five-on-five.

I know people want to see Matthews producing more on a consistent basis, but when the team is winning, and sitting fourth in the NHL standings — not to mention he’s still producing more than a point per game — it’s hard for me to be overly critical.

B-

Ryan O’Reilly 

This was a bit of an odd game to evaluate O’Reilly because his linemates changed so frequently due to the 11 and seven configuration. And that’s not to say that he played poorly tonight either. He didn’t. But my biggest takeaway is that I’m still torn on where he fits best.

O’Reilly does so many good little things to gain and keep possession that he would work well between Tavares and Marner — who can put the puck in the net — or as the centrepiece of a killer matchup line. I guess his best fit depends if the Leafs want him producing in a top-six role, or freeing up the top six to go to work while he shuts down other teams’ top lines. Sheldon Keefe has time to figure that out, at least.

Noel Acciari and Sam Lafferty 

They didn’t play a lot (under 11 minutes each), but I enjoyed Acciari and Lafferty. They banged around — Acciari had five hits — and connected for nice passing on the Flames’ doorstep late in the game. Lafferty, by the way, made the stretch pass to spring Nylander for his second period breakaway, too.

The Leafs are still playing with their lineup and working to integrate new faces, but I’m intrigued about what these two will add to the bottom of the lineup in the stretch run and into the playoffs.

David Kämpf

Kämpf did his job tonight. The highlight? He was in on the forecheck that caved in — and tired out — Calgary’s fourth line in the second period that led to Marner’s goal. Kämpf specifically did well to win the battle on the wall, keep possession of the puck, get it to the top line and get off the ice. It’s nothing flashy, but it led to Marner dancing around a gassed group of skaters, and the Leafs’ first goal of the game.

C+

Justin Holl

Holl made some bad plays in his own zone tonight. But he also saved a goal at a critical time in the game.

via GIPHY

I’ll let everyone pick sides in the comments.

Morgan Rielly

Rielly wasn’t exactly great in his own zone tonight, but he had the primary assist on the game-winning goal. Critics might say that’s a typical Rielly game. Overall he was fine.

C

Alex Kerfoot

Kerfoot was moving his feet, and looked good in transition, but he cannot buy himself a goal sometimes. He had a wide open net in the second period, with the puck right in front of him, but Noah Hanifin flipped it away before he could get his stick on it.

He made a nice play in the third period to Marner as well, which Markstrom saved, but overall Kerfoot graded out pretty poorly by most metrics.

Michael Bunting

This was a pretty quiet night for Bunting. He established his presence on the doorstep on the Marner goal in the second period, and was active in the trenches, but he played more of a passenger role tonight.

Erik Gustafsson 

Not a great debut for Gustafsson. He mishandled the puck and failed to hold the line while running the second power-play unit early in the first period with Coleman coming right at him. Coleman, who was very good for Calgary tonight I might add, scored on a short-handed breakaway as a result.

It was his first game post-trade, so I’m not overly concerned.

Game Score

Final grade: B+

Considering this was the second night of a back-to-back against a solid defensively-structured Flames team, a 2-1 road win is probably as good as we were going to get tonight. The game was sloppy early, but the team made adjustments and improved throughout, with a strong third period finish. And while there are still some kinks to work out in this lineup, like who plays where, who sits and who gets in the lineup, there was a lot to like in this game. The duo of Brodie and McCabe looked excellent, and Woll was steady, which could be important if Matt Murray does not return soon.

What’s next for the Leafs?

Toronto heads to Vancouver on Saturday night for a Luke Schenn homecoming on Hockey Night in Canada at 7 p.m.

(Photo: Sergei Belski / USA Today)

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Harry Miller is a writer and editor based in Toronto who has Ten years of experience in the journalism industry. Before coming to Canada News Media as a National Online Journalist, Miller worked as a senior writer and a reporter-editor with the Canadian Press and a breaking news reporter with the Toronto Star. Miller currently holds two bachelor’s degrees, one in journalism from Ryerson University and another in communications and film studies from Carleton University.

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