<p>The Toronto Maple Leafs are currently on an upswing in the midst of an up-and-down start to 2025. They won five games in a row to start the calendar year, followed by three losses, followed by three wins, and then three losses, and now another three wins. It&#8217;s been an emotional roller coaster, and certainly, the Leafs would prefer to have a little more consistency to their game, but considering the injuries they&#8217;ve battled from the crease to the top line, they&#8217;re probably happy to be where they are.</p>
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<p>The latest of Toronto&#8217;s victories came in the form of a 3-1 win over the Seattle Kraken on Thursday night. Anthony Stolarz stopped 26 of 27 shots in his return to the lineup, giving the fanbase a collective sigh of relief given that he didn&#8217;t seem to miss a beat despite being out of commission for nearly two months. Despite the goaltender&#8217;s heroics, it was Mitch Marner who earned the team belt, voted by teammates as the player of the game.</p>
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<p lang="en" dir="ltr">New addition to the mantel 🍎✋ <a href="https://t.co/aAxNQA086B">pic.twitter.com/aAxNQA086B</a></p>
<p>&mdash; Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) <a href="https://twitter.com/MapleLeafs/status/1887743787394564480?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 7, 2025</a></p></blockquote>
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<p>Marner tallied an assist on Philippe Myers&#8217; first-period goal, which also happened to be the 500th assist of his career, but he also put in a diabolical final shift of the game, staying on the ice for nearly three-and-a-half minutes to kill a penalty before being stuck on the ice as the Kraken continued to press with the net empty. He finished the game with 25:08 of time on ice (TOI), three minutes longer than teammate Auston Matthews, who played second-most after Marner.</p>
<p>Speaking with reporters about scoring his first goal of the season, Myers gave Marner a stunning review of his game and season to date in general, going as far as to call him the best player in the league.</p>
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<p lang="en" dir="ltr">“He does everything. Best player in the league. He’s an amazing teammate, I’ve got nothing but good things to say about that guy.” — Phil Myers (in his first year with the Leafs), on Mitch Marner. 🙂‍↕️</p>
<p>&mdash; din (@klooowry) <a href="https://twitter.com/klooowry/status/1887711185203831023?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 7, 2025</a></p></blockquote>
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<p>That interview came at first intermission, which was before Marner had that hero shift at the end of the game. Myers was asked about how it feels to have his name in the history books as the guy who scored the goal that Marner tallied his 500th assist on.</p>
<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s obviously pretty cool,&#8221; Myers said. &#8220;To have a player like that get his 500th assist on my first goal [of the season], cool to be part of.&#8221;</p>
<p>Myers originally came to Toronto as a free agent on a one-year deal this past summer, and after working his way into some extra reps when injuries emerged, he earned himself a two-year extension with a raise of $75,000 a la Simon Benoit. He&#8217;s been part of a rotating group with Benoit and Conor Timmins when the team is at full health, and hopes to become a lineup mainstay past the trade deadline.</p>
<p>The Maple Leafs will end their road trip against the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday night before the NHL enters a two-week break for the 4 Nations Face-Off.</p>
<p><strong>Sponsored by bet365</strong></p>
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The Toronto Maple Leafs are currently on an upswing in the midst of an up-and-down start to 2025. They won five games in a row to start the calendar year, followed by three losses, followed by three wins, and then three losses, and now another three wins. It's been an emotional roller coaster, and certainly, the Leafs would prefer to have a little more consistency to their game, but considering the injuries they've battled from the crease to the top line, they're probably happy to be where they are.
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The latest of Toronto's victories came in the form of a 3-1 win over the Seattle Kraken on Thursday night. Anthony Stolarz stopped 26 of 27 shots in his return to the lineup, giving the fanbase a collective sigh of relief given that he didn't seem to miss a beat despite being out of commission for nearly two months. Despite the goaltender's heroics, it was Mitch Marner who earned the team belt, voted by teammates as the player of the game.

https://twitter.com/MapleLeafs/status/1887743787394564480

Marner tallied an assist on Philippe Myers' first-period goal, which also happened to be the 500th assist of his career, but he also put in a diabolical final shift of the game, staying on the ice for nearly three-and-a-half minutes to kill a penalty before being stuck on the ice as the Kraken continued to press with the net empty. He finished the game with 25:08 of time on ice (TOI), three minutes longer than teammate Auston Matthews, who played second-most after Marner.

Speaking with reporters about scoring his first goal of the season, Myers gave Marner a stunning review of his game and season to date in general, going as far as to call him the best player in the league.

https://twitter.com/klooowry/status/1887711185203831023

That interview came at first intermission, which was before Marner had that hero shift at the end of the game. Myers was asked about how it feels to have his name in the history books as the guy who scored the goal that Marner tallied his 500th assist on.

"It's obviously pretty cool," Myers said. "To have a player like that get his 500th assist on my first goal [of the season], cool to be part of."

Myers originally came to Toronto as a free agent on a one-year deal this past summer, and after working his way into some extra reps when injuries emerged, he earned himself a two-year extension with a raise of $75,000 a la Simon Benoit. He's been part of a rotating group with Benoit and Conor Timmins when the team is at full health, and hopes to become a lineup mainstay past the trade deadline.

The Maple Leafs will end their road trip against the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday night before the NHL enters a two-week break for the 4 Nations Face-Off.

<strong>Sponsored by bet365</strong>
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Philippe Myers calls Mitch Marner the best player in the NHL

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