Mitch Marner Is Pacing the Maple Leafs at Both Ends of the Ice

TORONTO — Mitch Marner blocked one shot off his leg.

As he crumpled to the ice in pain, the winger usually known more for his speed and skill found himself nose-to-nose with another David Pastrnak one-timer that could have gone anywhere — including off his face.

Marner didn’t flinch.

The blast wound up hitting another body part a second before the final buzzer sounded in Toronto’s 3-2 victory over the Boston Bruins in Game 3 as the Maple Leafs grabbed 2-1 lead in their Eastern Conference quarterfinal.

“There’s dentists for a reason,” Marner said after Tuesday’s practice. “Lucky enough it didn’t hit me in the face.”

For the 21-year-old, it was all about desperation.

“Just tried to starfish on him and take up as much (room) as I could,” added Marner, who was mobbed by teammates spilling off the bench in celebration. “I was so close I didn’t think (the shot) was really going to get up too much. Just kind of sprawled my arms out.”

Marner Doing Whatever it Takes

Leafs defenceman Jake Muzzin, a Stanley Cup champion with the Los Angeles Kings in 2014, said before the playoffs that the team wanting it more in a series usually ends up winning.

Marner provided Exhibit A on Monday night inside a raucous Scotiabank Arena.

“Pretty good example of it right there,” Muzzin said. “Just a guy doing whatever it takes to keep the puck out of the net. We need everyone with that mentality and that mindset.

“It was awesome to see.”

It was also not something usually expected from an offensively gifted player like Marner, who set career-highs in goals (26), assists (68) and points (94) during the regular season. He picked up where he left off in last year’s playoffs, when he had seven points in seven games against the Bruins, in the opener of the rematch on Thursday with two goals in Toronto’s 4-1 win.

Like most of his teammates, Marner was mostly quiet as Boston pushed back in Game 2, but along with linemates John Tavares and Zach Hyman, and the defence pair of Muzzin and Nikita Zaitsev, he’s been at the forefront of mostly limiting the Bruins’ top line of Pastrnak, Brad Marchand and Patrice Bergeron at 5-on-5.

Marner even mixed it up with Marchand, the Bruins’ leading scorer and resident superpest, on a couple of occasions Monday.

Notes: Leafs centre Nazem Kadri, who was suspended for the rest of the series by the NHL for his cross-check to the head of Bruins winger Jake DeBrusk in Game 2, practised with his teammates, but was not made available to the media. The team said Kadri won’t speak with reporters until he’s eligible to return to the lineup. … Game 5 goes Friday in Boston. Game 6, if necessary, would be in Toronto on Sunday.

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Joshua Clipperton, The Canadian Press