Mitch Marner the hero as Maple Leafs beat Utah in a shootout

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Mitch Marner got the last laugh.

After days of speculation regarding his future with the Maple Leafs, Marner scored the deciding goal in a shootout on Monday night as the Leafs beat the Utah Hockey Club 4-3.

Marner made a forehand deke to beat Utah goalie Karel Vejmelka, ending the Leafs’ winless streak at three games.

Leafs captain Auston Matthews also scored in the shootout. Of Utah’s three shooters, only Clayton Keller beat Leafs goalie Joseph Woll.

A paddle save by Vejmelka on Morgan Rielly in the third period helped send the game to overtime. In the extra period, Woll made four saves.

Marner, who recorded his 80th point of 2024-25 with an assist in the first period, on the weekend reiterated his love of playing for the Leafs after he reportedly was asked by general manager Brad Treliving whether he would waive his no-movement clause to facilitate a Mikko Rantanen trade with the Carolina Hurricanes. We know what Marner’s answer was.

In their first game at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City, the Leafs coughed up a multi-goal lead for the third time in four games.

A 3-0 Toronto lead completely evaporated in a span of less than four minutes in the second period.

After a Simon Benoit shot eluded Vejmelka at 4:48 to put the Leafs up by three goals, Utah went to work. The home side might have been buoyed by a fight between Michael Kesselring and Benoit — who scored for the first time in 91 games — off the faceoff following the goal.

Michael Carcone scored Utah’s first goal at 8:14 when he blew past Morgan Rielly and redirected the puck past Woll.

At 9:03, Nick Schmaltz was left wide open at the side of the Leafs net and easily popped the puck into the net.

The game was tied at 12:11 with Benoit serving a tripping minor when Barrett Hayton deflected Mikhail Sergachev’s point shot past Woll.

The Leafs scored two power-play goals in the first period from polar-opposite sources.

William Nylander’s 36th goal came at 12:42, and Calle Jarnkrok, with his first goal since January 2024, scored on a pass from Max Domi at 19:38.

Instead of clamping down after the Lorentz goal in the second, however, the Leafs let up and stopped using their feet, allowing Utah to claw its way back into the game.

Rielly had an assist on Jarnkrok’s goal, giving him 418 in his career and moving him past George Armstrong for seventh on the Leafs’ franchise list for assists. Tomas Kaberle is sixth with 437.

Leafs defenceman Oliver Ekman-Larsson departed in the second period after he crashed into Vejmelka. Ekman-Larsson returned for the third.

tkoshan@postmedia.com

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