Mitch Marner continues to put the Toronto Maple Leafs on his back.

Due to brutal traffic in downtown Toronto, the Utah Hockey Club walked their way to Scotiabank Arena on Sunday, and while they had their legs early on, Marner took over in the second period and the Leafs never looked back. Toronto’s biggest pending free agent continued his dominance with Auston Matthews out of the lineup, scoring two goals, in two very different ways in the second against Utah’s Karel Vejmelka.

Five minutes into the second frame, down a goal, John Tavares made a fantastic play to find Marner in the neutral zone behind Utah’s defencemen. Marner finished off the break with a lovely snipe over the glove of Vejmelka to tie the game. He wasn’t done there. Just over four minutes later, Marner showed off his elite hockey IQ, banking the puck off Vejmelka from behind the icing line.

In the eight games Matthews has missed with his mysterious upper-body injury, Marner has multi-point games in seven of them. He’s had some help, though, and that’s a big reason why the Leafs continue to roll without their captain. William Nylander scored his 14th goal on a great individual effort to make it 3-1, in what was an emotional affair for the Nylander family. On Friday, Alex Nylander signed a one-year NHL contract with the Leafs, and made his NHL debut in blue and white versus Utah, a history moment for the family and for the franchise. Per the Leafs PR team, the Nylanders became just the fifth set of brothers to play a game together for the Maple Leafs.

Alex and William didn’t start the game on the same line, but played a ton together throughout several of the Maple Leafs’ six power plays, as well as taking a regular shift together at certain points of the contest. Kudos to head coach Craig Berube for giving everyone what they wanted to see. Berube’s had a tough job lately as the Maple Leafs’ depth continues to be tested. Alex Nylander is the 18th forward the team has used in the month of November.

While the Maple Leafs have managed to fill out the lineup while battling the injury bug, the lack of secondary scoring continues to be a huge concern for the team. There’s no point of overreacting after Game 21 because there’s so many regulars out of the lineup, but once some forwards start to get healthy, which could be relatively soon, secondary scoring is a storyline worth following.

In net, Joseph Woll made his second straight start and stood tall. Woll let in two goals on 25 shots, and both goals were tipped in. Anthony Stolarz is expected to start Wednesday in Florida against most of his former Panthers’ teammates. The Leafs have one of the best goaltending tandems in the league, and they’re making a combined $3.2 million against the cap this season. If GM Brad Treliving doesn’t try to go all in before the trade deadline, with such an affordable and strong goaltending tandem, it’s a disservice to the rest of the Maple Leafs.

Speaking of the ‘rest’ of the Maple Leafs, Nick Robertson hit the post twice Sunday and continues to be snake-bitten of any puck luck, with just one goal on the season. Bobby McMann had another strong game and showed off his speed and strength, creating several scoring chances.

Alex Nylander also had a couple of great looks, including hitting the post with a back-hander half-way through the third period. He’d finish his Maple Leafs’ debut playing 10:37 of ice-time, and two shots on goal. Fraser Minten got some looks on the Leafs’ top power-play unit and during five-on-five play, Minten showed off his awareness and smarts, as he could normally be found on the ‘right side of the puck’.

Sunday’s 3-2 Maple Leafs’ victory was the only show in town, as the rest of the NHL had the day and night off. Hockey fans around the world got a taste for how the Maple Leafs can grind out bad starts and still find ways to secure two points. It doesn’t always have to be pretty to be efficient. Berube-hockey, 101.

Let’s be honest though, when Marner’s as hot as he currently is, anything is possible.