Three Takeaways from Maple Leafs 2-1 Win vs. Devils

Murray made several saves in the final minutes and 34 saves overall. He was especially outstanding during the last two periods when the Devils had 30 shots on the net. Murray stopped all but one.

Murray looked absolutely confident. The only goal he gave up was a great tip by Dougie Hamilton. It was a great game by the Thunder Bay native.

Takeaway Two: Mitch Marner Keeps His NHL-Best Scoring Streak Alive

Mitch Marner made his streak stretch to 14, while the Devils did not. Marner worked exceedingly hard behind the Devils’ net to get the puck to John Tavares in front of the net for a tap-in goal. Marner got the assist, while Tavares scored his 12th goal of the season.

Tavares is now on pace for 47 goals on the season. He scored 47 goals in his first Maple Leafs’ season. Marner is now only two games back of Babe Dye for fifth place on the Maple Leafs all-time franchise record list for point-scoring. He just seems to be everywhere on the ice.

Takeaway Three: Jordie Benn Injured

I just had to mention Jordie Benn in this note. Three things: first, he didn’t get much love from Maple Leafs’ fans when the team signed him in the offseason. True, he made a mistake that cost his team a goal a couple of games ago, but on the whole he’s been a solid defenseman for the team. He has added some big minutes on the team’s top pairing with Morgan Rielly before Rielly was injured.

Second, he made an amazingly good play under pressure in his own end to get the puck up ice. No panic, and simply fooled the opposing player to move the puck. It really was a good play and saved pressure in his own end.

Third, and sadly, Benn suffered some sort of an upper-body injury during the game. He left during the second period, then briefly came back during the third period. Then he left again and finally he didn’t return. I hope that coming and going means he’s not that badly injured. It isn’t a good time for another defenseman to go down.

After the game, Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe reported that he wasn’t sure how long Benn would be sidelined. Of course, Benn would be “undergoing further evaluation.” There would be “an update later.”

It would be great if Benn could play on Friday afternoon against the Minnesota Wild, the grounded the Jets (Winnipeg) last night in a laugher by a 6-1 score. Although it might be that the new Maple Leafs defenseman Conor Timmins might be with the team by then.