LAS VEGAS — The first instinct of the players, especially the ones who’ve been tied together longest, is to downplay it.
Morgan Rielly: “It’s just another game, really.”
Auston Matthews: “It will obviously be a little bit different, but it’s a hockey game. It’s a good team on the other side, and we’re looking to get back on track ourselves.”
John Tavares: “Changes happen every year. Not the first time we’re playing against a former player.”
Mitch Marner, Wednesday night: “I hadn’t really thought about it till this moment.”
Yes, the regular two points will be up for grabs, and the rink will be 200 feet long, and the periods will last 20 minutes each.
But to fans and followers of the Toronto Maple Leafs, nah, this isn’t just another game. (Doubly so on Jan. 23, when the Vegas Golden Knights visit Scotiabank Arena.)
This is the first time Mitch Marner will face off against the team he loved as a boy but chose to leave once he had one of his own.
The first head-to-head since the Leafs salvaged Nicolas Roy in a trade that ended the Core Four era once and for all.
That comes with extra motivation and extra eyeballs, whether the protagonists wish to lean into the narrative or not.
Not all 82 are created equal.
Some become referendums or measuring sticks or prisms to view the past and future.
C’mon, this one does pack a little more juice, right, Coach?
“For sure. I think it does,” Craig Berube conceded Thursday morning inside T-Mobile Arena.
“But I think we’re kind of past all that with Mitch. But, yeah, for sure. It’s same as having Roysy on our side, him coming back and playing against his old team. There’s always juice, both ways.”
Marner has stayed in touch with some of good friends on the Leafs since moving three time zones west. He congratulated Matthews privately and publicly on snapping Mats Sundin’s franchise goal record, to which he contributed 152 assists.
Matthews says the longtime linemates still talk “a decent amount” and remain close friends.
“Obviously, he was a big part of things here, and you develop a close relationship,” Tavares said.
Tavares says Marner reached out when he scored his 500th career goal, and Tavares returned the gesture when Marner was named to Canada’s Olympic roster.
“I checked in with them, just seeing how they’re doing, how their families are doing, talk to them over Christmas and holidays,” Marner told reporters Wednesday in L.A., after extending the Knights’ win streak to five.
“Got really close to lot of them there, and (they’re) like brothers, but there hasn’t been too much talk about hockey, really.”
Let’s talk a little hockey.
This should be a good tilt, what with both Marner’s current and former teams playing some of their best of the season.
The Leafs are catching the home tired on a back-to-back and should be determined to cleanse the sour taste of Tuesday’s 6-1 blowout in Utah, where they were the sluggish group.
And unlike Vegas, which sits in first place in the Pacific, Toronto must continue to gather points to keep its playoff push alive.
The Leafs are still digging themselves out of an early-season hole that was dug, at least partially, because they lost a two-way asset, an all-star.
“Whenever you lose a player that plays in all situations like that, there’s always an adjustment period. I think it takes a little bit time,” Rielly said. “But I think we’re in a good spot. We have guys here that have taken on more responsibility and are playing bigger roles and doing a great job.”
Berube describes Marner as “a guy that touched all parts of the game” and had a tremendous impact on the team gam. “You know, Matty and him played together for a long time. I mean, there’s always an adjustment.”
Tavares is adamant that the focus should be directed upon the Maple Leafs who wear the uniform this season.
“I don’t think we ever thought about guys that weren’t here (as a reason for) why the start or why certain periods we weren’t as consistent,” Tavares said. “There’s a lot of depth, a lot of quality hockey players in our locker room. And every year is different. It’s a new journey. You’re trying to build things and establish a team identity, and for whatever reason, we weren’t able to build momentum the way we’d like to.”
They have it now, these Marner-free Leafs.
They’ve gathered points in nine of their past 10 games, including Monday’s statement win over the mighty Colorado Avalanche. They’re as healthy as they’ve been all season. And they’re having fun.
Marner, too, was slow to adjust to life in a new country, new conference, new position (he’s skating centre these days).
The trick to getting over a breakup is to throw yourself wholly into something new.
But that doesn’t mean that the best-of-two Marner Bowl about to play out over the next eight days won’t drag back some memories.
“I don’t think I gotta look at it any different. Just look at it as another hockey game,” Marner said. “Just try and go out there and do my thing.”
No big deal.
“He’s always been a great player to play with and a very close friend. And that won’t change,” Tavares said.
“But, obviously, tonight we’re competing against each other.”
Maple Leafs projected lineup Thursday in Vegas:
Knies – Matthews – Domi
Maccelli – Tavares – Nylander
Cowan – Roy – Robertson
Lorentz – Laughton – McMann
Rielly – Carlo
McCabe – Ekman-Larsson
Benoit – Stecher
Woll starts
Hildeby
