Knights’ Mitch Marner takes aim at Leafs in emotional matchup
The spotlight will be on Vegas Golden Knights forward Mitch Marner Thursday night when he takes the ice for the first time against the Toronto Maple Leafs in Las Vegas.
Marner recorded 221 goals and 520 assists over nine seasons with Toronto after being selected by his hometown Maple Leafs with the fourth overall pick of the 2015 NHL Entry Draft.
Toronto acquired forward Nicolas Roy on July 1 in exchange for Marner, who signed an eight-year, $96 million contract with the Maple Leafs as part of the trade before heading to Vegas.
"I'm grateful forever to have worn that jersey," Marner told the Toronto Star. "But I'm happy for the new chapter. It's a new chapter in my life. I'm focused on here."
Marner scored his 11th goal of the season in Vegas' 3-2 overtime victory at Los Angeles on Wednesday. He leads the Golden Knights with 36 assists.
Marner will be going up against longtime teammate Auston Matthews, who recently passed Mats Sundin to become Toronto's all-time leading goal scorer.
"I haven't thought about it until right now," Marner told the Las Vegas Review-Journal after the Wednesday game. "I've been trying to focus on our games, and who we play as our next opponent. I'm sure on the plane ride home, that's going to hit more that it's (Thursday) night. I don't think I got to look at it any different. Just look at it as another hockey game and just go out there and do my thing."
Vegas enters with a five-game win streak and moved two points ahead of second-place Edmonton in the Pacific Division with Wednesday's win over the Kings.
Captain Mark Stone scored the winner 25 seconds into overtime, his eighth goal in nine games.
Jack Eichel, who finished with three assists, set up the score with a diving wraparound pass from behind the net to Stone, who tapped it into an open goal.
Toronto got the day off in Sin City following a draining back-to-back against Colorado and Utah.
The Maple Leafs opened a four-game road trip with a 4-3 overtime win over the Avalanche on Monday, snapping Colorado's 17-game home winning streak. William Nylander scored the winner 3:59 into overtime.
Toronto had a four-game win streak and 10-game point streak (8-0-2) broken on Tuesday with a 6-1 loss to the Utah Mammoth in Salt Lake City.
"This is a flush game for me," Maple Leafs coach Craig Berube said. "We just didn't execute well enough. It was kind of like we were ‘almost.' We almost got a goal, we almost got the play off but we just didn't execute well enough. I'll give them credit. They had a great game plan. We didn't have much room out there."
Berube is hoping for a sharper performance Thursday versus Vegas after a day off to refresh. The road trip finishes Saturday with a game at Winnipeg.
"We need to rest up here and get our legs under us for the next game," Berube said. "We are going to have a tough game in Vegas, who are good at home. That is a good team."
Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said it's a possibility that No. 1 goalie Adin Hill, out with a lower-body injury sustained in an Oct. 20 game against Carolina, could make his return in net on Thursday.