Marner scores late, Maple Leafs defeat Predators

TORONTO --Mitchell Marner scored with 1:15 remaining in the third period to lift the Toronto Maple Leafs to a 2-1 win against the Nashville Predators at Scotiabank Arena on Wednesday.

Marner received a dot-to-dot pass from William Nylander and scored past a sprawling Juuse Saros on a power play. The Maple Leafs had the man-advantage after Predators forward Mark Jankowski was assessed a double minor penalty for high-sticking defenseman Morgan Rielly at 15:38.
"'Willy' just made a great play down to me, and in that moment I'm just trying not to get that blocked or get that saved to be on a highlight reel," Marner said. "Just trying to put it in the net, and lucky enough I was able to."

Marner extended his home point streak to 18 games (seven goals, 19 assists), tying Darryl Sitter (1977-78) for the longest in Toronto history.
John Tavares also scored and had an assist, Nylander had two assists, and Matt Murray made 32 saves for the Maple Leafs (26-9-7), who have won three in a row. They were without forward Auston Matthews because of an undisclosed injury. He is day to day.
Toronto plays again Thursday at the Detroit Red Wings.
"There wasn't a lot of ice or plays to be made, but I thought we just stuck with our game plan of sticking with being hard to play through the neutral zone, trying to get back quickly on pucks and make plays to get out of our zone," Marner said. "I thought our defense did a great job with their gaps tonight, being tight and turning a lot of plays away and our forwards were there for the back pressure when needed."

Filip Forsberg scored, and Saros made 33 saves for the Predators (19-15-6), who had won four in a row and are 3-1-0 to start a five-game road trip that concludes Thursday against the Montreal Canadiens.
"I thought [our effort] was pretty good," Nashville coach John Hynes said. "I thought in the first period they had the better of the play, but I liked our second and third periods. It was a pretty even game.
"It was unfortunate we had that penalty at the end. We did a good job on the penalty kill all night and killed the majority of that off. They're a good team, good on the power play. You can't give them those looks, and we allowed their power play to be the difference in the game."
The Maple Leafs, who entered Wednesday tied for seventh on the power play (25 percent), were 1-for-5 with the man-advantage and had five shots on goal.
"It was ugly, but it won us the hockey game, so the coach is going to keep his mouth shut here," Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe said.
Murray kept the game scoreless 2:15 into the first period, making three consecutive saves on forward Tanner Jeannot, including a sprawling glove save while on his back off a redirect in front.
"That was a crazy play," Murray said. "I got spun around and there was some contact after the first shot and it spun me around. I was looking over my shoulder and saw the guy made a pass backdoor, so I knew I had to get something over there. I just kind of spun and tried to get something there."

Tavares gave the Maple Leafs a 1-0 lead at 16:54 with a backhand at the left post. It was his 20th goal of the season, reaching the mark for the 13th time in his career. He has scored in four straight games.
"Scoring always is great and always means something, so I just want to continue to help the team," Tavares said. "It's just one on the year tonight so nice to get there, but I can't say I was really thinking about [getting to 20]."
Forsberg tied it 1-1 at 1:46 of the second period when he took a pass from Juuso Parssinen at the top of the goal crease and toe-dragged around Murray.
"I thought we defended well, maybe not in the first [period when] we gave them a little bit too many chances, but in the second and third we defended really well," Forsberg said. "Juuse was there when we needed him. Overall, it was a decent game, but it just stinks when [we give up] a late one like that."

Murray won consecutive starts for the first time since Dec. 6-10.
"Murray deserves] a ton of credit, a ton," Keefe said. "To me, their guy on the other end was playing really well too; that's an elite goalie down the other way, so you need to match him save for save. We generated looks and weren't getting much to show for it, so he has to stay strong and stand tall.
"For me, he's full marks tonight. …I'm not sure there's ever been a game where the goaltender won us the game, and in a lot of ways you could say that here tonight."
**NOTES:** Maple Leafs forward
[Bobby McMann
had two hits in 11:02 of ice time in his NHL debut after being called up from Toronto of the American Hockey League on Tuesday. ... Marner extended his point streak to six games (three goals, six assists). He has 50 points (16 goals, 34 assists) this season, joining Mats Sundin (12 seasons), Sittler (nine), Borje Salming (seven) and Rick Vaive (seven) as the only players in Maple Leafs history to have 50 or more points in at least seven consecutive seasons. ... Tavares extended his point streak to four games (five goals, three assists). ... Predators goalie
Yaroslav Askarov
was called up from Milwaukee of the AHL earlier Wednesday for precautionary reasons with Kevin Lankinen a game-time decision. Askarov did not dress. ... Nashville defenseman Roman Josi played his 800th NHL game.