Here are four takeaways from the Maple Leafs’ win over the Utah Hockey Club

• Mitch Marner is the focal point of the hockey world, after it was reported Saturday that the Maple Leafs asked him to waive his no-trade clause in a potential deal for Mikko Rantanen. Marner’s impending free agency is a storyline that won’t go away and playing in the largest hockey market in the world, the story won’t be going away anytime soon. We’re not going to speculate on how this could affect on his on-ice performance, but it was a flawed game from Marner, who committed three unforced errors through the opening 25 minutes. Toronto’s first line, consisting of Marner, Auston Matthews and Matthew Knies didn’t materially impact the game, and the team will get some much-needed rest ahead of a pivotal game on Thursday. No one will remember this part in a few weeks as Marner walked the game off with a terrific shootout winner, Matthews also scored in the shootout, although his 12-game point streak came to a halt.
• Calle Jarnkrok scored his first goal since January 2024, and he may be rounding back into form, after missing the majority of the season while recovering from groin and sports hernia surgery. Jarnkrok has been a hallmark of consistency during his Maple Leafs’ tenure and the fourth line, consisting of Steven Lorentz and David Kampf, was Toronto’s best unit at 5-on-5 during Monday’s win. Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube is still tinkering with his optimal lineups, and Nick Robertson was out of the lineup. Lorentz-Kampf-Jarnkrok could be a winning combination, with some toughness, defensive responsibility and secondary scoring punch.
• Simon Benoit scored his first goal of the season and you could make a strong argument that he was the Maple Leafs’ best defenceman on Monday. Benoit got into a fight with Utah’s Michael Kesselring where he landed a Superman punch, shortly after scoring his goal. It may have provided Utah with some inadvertent momentum, as it notched three goals in four minutes. As for Benoit, he was stellar throughout the game, he wasn’t caught out of position and Toronto outshot Utah 5-2 when he was on the ice at 5-on-5. This is a game he can continue to build off, it may have been his best of the 2025 calendar year.
• Joseph Woll was the main reason why the Maple Leafs won, and he was the recipient of the team belt, awarded to the team’s best or most impactful player in a winning effort. Woll made 29 stops, he made several great stops during the third and overtime periods, and appeared to be dialled in, save for the four-minute stretch in the second period. NHL on TNT researcher Chris Jastrzembski found that Woll made eight saves in crunch time, bringing up to 50-out-50 on the season. Woll has been terrific all year, and after getting pulled in his last start against the Vegas Golden Knights, it was certainly an encouraging result. “Woll played great and kept us in the game,” William Nylander said post-game.

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