Marleau boosting Maple Leafs with leadership entering Game 4 vs. Bruins

TORONTO --On the night Patrick Marleau scored his first two Stanley Cup Playoff goals for the Toronto Maple Leafs, his parents were not in the stands. Not when there was seeding to prepare for and livestock to be taken care of in Aneroid, Saskatchewan, 1,800 miles west of Air Canada Centre.

"Too much going on back at the family farm," Marleau said with a chuckle Tuesday, one day after helping the Maple Leafs to a 4-2 win against the Boston Bruins in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference First Round. "There always is, especially this time of year.
"That's their priority and it should be. Priorities are important."
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Denis and Jeannette Marleau are big on priorities. They are big on being well-grounded too. Those are traits they passed down to Patrick.
And those are characteristics the forward is using to keep the young Maple Leafs on an even keel against the Bruins.

The Maple Leafs trail the best-of-7 series 2-1 with Game 4 at Air Canada Centre on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, TVAS, NESN), and Marleau is a big reason they are not down 3-0.
Marleau scored twice in Game 3, using the lessons his parents taught him to keep his younger teammates calm.

After the Maple Leafs were outscored 12-4 in losing Games 1 and 2 in Boston, Marleau didn't make some kind of rallying speech. He just prepared like it was any other game. His teammates noticed.
"He's just so consistent, a quiet leader," linemate Mitchell Marner said. "He leads by example, and we learn from that."
Marleau, 38, has played 180 NHL playoff games, the most of any active player who has not won the Stanley Cup, scoring 70 goals. The first 177 games came with the San Jose Sharks; Marleau played his first 19 NHL seasons with them before signing a three-year, $18.75 million contract with Toronto on July 2.
"The playoffs for these kind of guys, it's like the fountain of youth," Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock said. "They have more jump in them, they compete harder, they know what's at stake.
"I think as much as he's done for us all year, what the reminder [is] for our guys each and every day is you think you can have all these opportunities but you look at a great player like [Marleau] -- he just got his 70th playoff goal or something like that last night -- it's ridiculous how much he's played. It's hard to win, hard to be successful at playoff time, there's lots of teams trying to be great. So, I think he's a real good example to our group that way."
Babcock said he considers Marleau to be as much a teacher as he is a player. At this time of year, that's a precious commodity. Babcock should know, having coached plenty of veterans during 10 seasons with the Detroit Red Wings from 2005-2015.

"I used to say this about [former Red Wings defenseman Nicklas] Lidstrom all the time, you wonder who's coaching who," Babcock said. "And, what I mean by that is you can learn as much from them as they can learn from you. You're there to keep them accountable, to keep them getting better, to make sure their game is good. In saying all that, they're there to help you manage your team and make good decisions. That could even be with rest, with treating people right, with how we handle our team.
"So, when you think of a guy like Lidstrom or [Henrik] Zetterberg or [Steve] Yzerman or [Brendan] Shanahan or any of those guys that I've coached (in Detroit) -- [Pavel] Datsyuk -- over the years, including these kinds of guys, these guys, they just want the team to have success so they are really helpful to the coach.
"They don't mind telling you what you need to be told."
Marleau and 35-year-old forward Tomas Plekanec stepped up in Game 3 with veteran forwards Nazem Kadri (suspension) and Leo Komarov (upper-body injury) out.
Plekanec took Kadri's spot between Marleau and Marner on the second line and played his best game with the Maple Leafs, getting an assist and finishing plus-2. He played 17:58, up from 11:38 in Game 2 and 10:07 in Game 1.

"I felt better," said Plekanec, traded from the Montreal Canadiens on Feb. 25. "Obviously, you know every player will tell you when you play you feel much better about yourself and get confident. The key to that is a good start to the game. We had a good first couple of shifts which gets you going and shake off that rust you had from previous games.
"I can't say enough about [Marleau] and [Marner]. It's fun to play with those guys."
Marleau doesn't expect Denis and Jeannette to be in Toronto for Game 4 because of all the work there is to do back home. For those who will be in the stands, he said he expects a great atmosphere.
"It was crazy for Game 3," he said. "It was great.
"I look forward to the next one."