In Winnipeg Wednesday night, Patrick Marleau had a great first game for the visiting Toronto Maple Leafs as he scored twice in a 7-2 thumping of the Jets.
“Great play by [Auston Matthews] getting it over to me and then kind of kicked it up to my skate and was able to deke around the goalie,” Marleau said after striking for the 509th goal of his career and fist as a Leaf.
Frederik Andersen made 35 saves on the night to get the win for the Maple Leafs.
Nazem Kadri, William Nylander, Mitch Marner, Auston Matthews, and James van Riemsdyk also scored for Toronto.
The difference in the game was the Toronto penalty kill which stopped all eight chances the Jets had on the power play.
“Our penalty kill came up huge for us and we scored when it counted,” Matthews said. “They’ve obviously got some shooters, some guys that can put the puck in the net, and we definitely limited some of their chances. Obviously, Freddie came up just huge sometimes. That’s what you need, especially in a game like this. We know they’re calling it tight so we’ve got to be better in that area.”
Jets newcomer Steve Mason took the loss on 15 saves off 20 shots. In his Winnipeg debut, he was pulled early in the third in favor of Connor Hellebuyck .
Mark Scheifele and Mathieu Perreaultstruck for the Jets.
AN early 3-0 lead was too much for the Jets to respond to.
“You blink and it’s 3-0,” Jets captain Blake Wheeler said. “We just weren’t able to dig our way out of it.”
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