When Toronto Maple Leafs forward Patrick Marleau outraced Minnesota Wild defencemen Ryan Suter, 32, and Jared Spurgeon, 27, to negate an icing with 5:24 to play in the second period on Wednesday — despite starting 30 feet behind them inside his own blueline — it was the type of play that looked nice but did not appear to mean much.
The 38-year old Marleau disagreed though when the question about the play posed to him was prefaced by suggesting it did not have a direct impact on the game. Ever aware of his surroundings, he realized an icing at that time would put the Maple Leafs in a dicey spot forcing Nazem Kadri, William Nylander, Jake Gardiner and Nikita Zaitsev, who had all been on the ice for over a minute, to stay on for a defensive zone faceoff.
Having just replaced Leo Komarov about 20 seconds earlier, he knew he was fresh enough to win the race.
“I think I was one of the fresher guys on the ice so we needed some guys off,” Marleau explained. “When you’re in that position you want to help your defenceman and other guys get off the ice by getting that loose puck.”
38 year old Patrick Marleau beating Spurgeon & Suter in the icing race pic.twitter.com/jfvejPnmdQ
— Flintor (@TheFlintor) November 9, 2017
It’s a play that does not get much attention when it’s made. But if it is not made, who knows whether that icing becomes a turning point leading to a lost faceoff and a quick goal against with a tired group on the ice. The Maple Leafs were up by only a goal, 2-1, at that point. They went on to win 4-2 for their second straight victory.
“It’s a good example to all of us,” said Babcock. “He’s 38 years old and he can work that hard and do things right.”
It was a play that had the rest of his teammates taking notice.
“When you see a guy like Patty going to skate down and hunt pucks, it encourages the whole team to do it,” said Zach Hyman. “If he’s doing it, everybody should be doing it. He leads by example.”
Added Matt Martin, “For him to chase that down it was huge. Credit to him again, not every player puts in that kind of effort to chase down an icing and he’s still got the speed to do it.”
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Marleau long ago reached the point in his career where he could take a shortcut or two without catching any flak. But he did not get to 1510 career NHL games by cutting corners and it does not look like he is going to be starting anytime soon.
A little more than 12 hours after scoring a goal in that win against the Wild, he was first player on the ice at practice on Thursday. When he signed a three year, $18.75 million contract on July 2 to join the Maple Leafs after 19 seasons in San Jose, much was made of his reputation for possessing a relentless work ethic. Marleau has only been a Maple Leaf for 16 games but his teammates have quickly taken notice.
“He’s almost 40 years old and he’s still moving that well, he’s got too much oil in his hips I guess,” said Martin. “On a day-to-day basis, I hate to sound like Babs (coach Mike Babcock) here but he’s a good pro, he works hard at it every day, he’s such a good guy to be around and someone we can all learn from.”
What he brings to the fabric of the locker room is a standard to which other players aspire to match. It’s why the game is about more than just numbers and stats on a page.
How do you watch the way Marleau, a deeply respected veteran, prepares, the way he competes, the way he pushes himself the extra mile both in how he prepares and how he plays and be content to look him in the eye without knowing you are putting in the same level of effort? High standards force everyone else to better themselves. A rising tides lifts all boats.
Marleau also afforded Babcock the type of versatility that came in handy when he was able to slide over to centre when Auston Matthews had to sit out against the Wild with an injury. Matthews remains day-to-day but did not practice on Thursday, putting his status in doubt for back-to-back games against the Boston Bruins beginning on Friday in Toronto. The coach is loath to continue using Marleau at centre, but despite recalling Frederik Gauthier from the Toronto Marlies Babcock admitted he is even more reluctant to change a winning lineup.
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“I don’t want Patty to have to play in the middle. It’s a lot of work to play in the middle, you have to do things right all the time, 200 feet all the time but right now we need him and I thought he stepped up real good,” Babcock said.
Marleau made an impact on the score sheet against the Wild in scoring his sixth goal of the season which put Toronto up 2-1 early in the second period. Hyman, who assisted on the goal, was impressed with how easy Marleau was to play with.
Trailing the play as Hyman carried the puck into the zone, Marleau recognized Hyman would not win the race to the net and pulled up in the high slot, losing Chris Stewart who was checking him in the process, and gave Hyman an outlet. Marleau quickly got a one-timer away to beat Wild goaltender Devan Dubnyk through the five-hole for his 514th career NHL goal, which put him past Jeremy Roenick for 39th on the NHL all-time goals list.
A masterclass on the one-timer from Marleau. #TMLtalk pic.twitter.com/VZy39InCHf
— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) November 9, 2017
“We just started playing together just now. I was just trying to go to the net there and then once I saw it was a better opportunity to turn up, I knew Patty would be coming in as a trailer,” explained Hyman. “That’s just something he knows how to do, he’s been in the league for so long, he knows how to create space for himself so once he saw me turn back, he knew I was looking to make a pass and he just stopped up and gave himself that extra second for that pass. The game goes so fast but to slow it down like that is really hard to do.”
A little play and a big play, all in a day’s work for Marleau.