Mitch Marner scored a power play goal and provided two helpers as the Leafs travelled to Seattle to play their first game against the Kraken as the Leafs stormed out of Washington with a resounding 6-2 win.
With Marner’s second period PPG he earned his 400th career NHL point, taking 392 games to do so.
The game was tied at one midway through the first period when Michael Bunting batted in a loose puck sent out in front of the net by Auston Matthews for his rookie leading 15th goal of the season.
From there, the Leafs went on to score three more unanswered goals by Kase, Marner, and Kampf.
Ondrej Kase scored the Leafs first PPG of the evening with about 6 minutes left in the first period as they went 2-2 with an extra skater, as Kase has scored power play goals in back to back games for the Leafs, bringing his goal tally to 10 on the season.
Marner scored the lone goal of the second period on the power play giving him 17 goals on the year and while he was held pointless in the Leafs previous two games against the Canucks and Flames, he now has 22 points in his last 11 games.
While the Leafs power play remained red hot Monday night, their penalty kill proved to be just as lethal as a misplay at the blue line from the Kraken sprung Mitch Marner on a breakaway on replacement goalie Chris Driedger, where he pulled a nifty drop pass behind him for a streaking David Kampf to tap home his 6th goal of the year.
Celebrations were cut short a few minutes later as Justin Holl picked up a tripping minor which sent the Kraken to the power play, where former Leaf (for four days) Jared McCann wired home his team leading 20th goal of the season to cut the Leafs lead to 5-2.
Jack Campbell played a very steady game all evening stopping 23 of the 25 shots he saw, his counter-part Phillipp Grubauer had a game to forget however. Grubauer was in net for three goals on 11 shots and was yanked by coach Dave Hakstol after the first period where Driedger came in for relief but didn’t fair much better either.
In the dying embers of the game defenseman Jake Muzzin, who has been in and out of the lineup recently due to injury, snapped a 28-game goalless drought with a one-timer from the point.
Muzzin was clearly shaken up after a play along the boards with Kraken forward Mason Appleton had him go to the dressing room for the final few minutes of the first period but came back into the game for the start of the second.
The Leafs head home following their three game road trip to play the red-hot Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday, while the Kraken are set to take a trip across Western Canada as they open up against the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday.
BD Sports 