In Toronto, the Maple Leafs took leads of 2-0 and 3-1 ion Thursday night, but needed the skills competition to defeat the Seattle Kraken, 4-3.
Mitchell Marner hit for a goal in the opening stanza, and two in the middle frame to get a hat trick and help the Leafs build the 3-1 lead.
“Obviously it feels really good,” Marner said. “Like I’ve been saying, I haven’t been happy with my own gameplay, I thought I haven’t been my best. I’ve helped this team win enough games playing my best to have an impact on games. I felt good tonight, moving my feet, getting pucks in the right places and making plays off it, and at the same time not forcing stuff, being smart with my pucks.”
Joseph Woll made 37 saves in the win.
“It’s a tough league,” the Maple Leafs’ Morgan Rielly said. “Every night is challenging. Every team has skill and size and speed, and all the rest of it. If we get two points, we’re happy. Ultimately, if you have the lead in the third you want to be able to close it out, but we will take those points all day.”
The Maple Leafs improved to 12-6-3.
Marner scored in the fist to give the Leafs a 1-0 lead, then hit for a double early in the middle frame for a 2-0 advantage.
The Kraken dropped to 8-10-6 off their third straight loss.
“We lost a point in a shootout,” Kraken coach Dave Hakstol said. “We were the better team tonight; I call it as I see it. If we don’t play well, I’ll let you know, and I think I do that pretty honestly. We played really well tonight. We were the better team and I thought we deserved a better outcome. It’s disappointing to lose in the shootout.”
Jared McCann, who hit for a double in the loss, trimmed the Leafs lead to 2-1 off the power play at 3:37 of the second.
Marner finished his hat trick with four minutes left in the period, and 3-1 lead to Toronto.
“It was unbelievable,” Woll said of Marner’s performance. “That’s a heck of a game by him. He put the team on his back scoring three goals and then getting the game-winner in the shootout, it’s pretty fitting… You see your big-time players step up and make big-time plays, it’s awesome.”
The Kraken rallied in the third on a pair of markers to force the extra session.
Eeli Tolvanen cut the deficit to 3-2 at 6:15 .
“I think we played really well,” Tolvanen said. “I think that was one of the best 60, 65 minutes we played so far this season. I felt like everybody was on their game today. We were down two goals going into the third and you saw everybody putting the effort in and everybody wanted to come back.”
McCann’s double tied it, 3-3, at 13:24.
“We don’t want to give up that third-period lead,” Marner said. “We’re a team that wants to be in that position a lot, and wants to be a lot better in that position. Good things all around, but you don’t want to give up those two-goal leads, especially in the third.
“Seems like we have everything pretty locked down, doing things well. I just think we can’t be timid; we can’t be sitting back on our heels. We’re a team that, when we are playing our best, is attacking on the forecheck still.”
Marner was credited with the game-winner on penalties.
Philipp Grubauer made 25 saves in the loss.
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