McMann sparks short-handed Maple Leafs past Blues
Forward gets 1st hat trick for Toronto, which was without Marner, Tavares, Rielly
By
Dave McCarthy
NHL.com Independent Correspondent
McMann entered the night with two goals in 36 career games. He completed the hat trick by banking the puck off the boards from his own zone into an empty net to make it 4-1 at 18:21 of the third.
“That was pretty cool,” he said. “Dramatic, call it, with the pace of that puck sliding into the net. I didn’t know if it had the right angle or what, but it was pretty cool to see it go in.”
McMann, who was expecting to be a healthy scratch, didn't find out that he would be playing after all until around 4:00 p.m., when it became clear that forwards John Tavares and Mitchell Marner wouldn't be able to go because of an illness.
“I basically anticipated that I was going to be out tonight based on the lineup at practice (on Monday) but still tried to take care of business, take care of the body. You never know when you are going to be called upon,” McMann said. “I felt like I was ready this morning, and (coach Sheldon) Keefe let me know some guys were sick and I would likely be playing, so at that point I was like, 'OK, I’m going to go through my regular routine,' and did just that.”
William Nylander also scored, and Ilya Samsonov made 14 saves for the Maple Leafs (27-16-8), who were also without defenseman Morgan Rielly, who was serving the first of a five-game suspension for cross-checking Ottawa Senators forward Ridly Greig.
“I thought guys played well,” Keefe said. “Played a pretty simple game, which was required especially once we got the lead. We needed guys to step up in different ways. I thought we got a lot of great efforts tonight, and then Bobby, two huge goals for us and a cool empty netter to finish it off. Terrific end to kind of a strange day for us quite honestly with our lineup uncertainy. Bobby himself really didn’t know he was going to play until he got to the rink.”
Alexey Toropchenko scored, and Jordan Binnington made 28 saves for the Blues (28-22-2), who had won two straight and seven of eight.
“I just think we weren’t skating enough and supporting each other enough and winning battles and being committed to the forecheck,” St. Louis captain Brayden Schenn said. “We know we have to be a whole lot better than we were tonight.
“We relied on our goalie to make saves, and he kept us in the game, but at the end of the day, we just didn't have enough guys, pretty much everyone I should say, that were willing to play the right way tonight.”
McMann put the Maple Leafs ahead 1-0 at 5:33 of the first period. He won a battle for the puck alone the right boards, warded off Schenn as he cut to the net, and scored past Binnington's right pad from the edge of the crease.
“We couldn’t find a lot of energy in our game,” Blues coach Drew Bannister said. “We weren’t moving our feet, and with that we weren’t able to recover any pucks. We lost every race to pucks, which forced us to defend more and we couldn’t get on offense.”
Nylander made it 2-0 at 16:25 when his centering pass deflected off Blues defenseman Matthew Kessel’s stick and fluttered past Binnington’s blocker.
Toropchenko cut it to 2-1 at 5:36 of the second period with a deflection of Nathan Walker's shot below the right hash marks. The goal came after Binnington stopped Noah Gregor on a breakaway at 3:52.
McMann extended the lead to 3-1 at 8:02 of the third period. TJ Brodie's initial shot was blocked by Kessel, but the puck dropped right at the skates of McMann, who picked it up and roofed a shot glove side from the bottom of the left circle.
“It’s nice to see a guy like that who works hard every night, forechecks hard, plays hard, get rewarded," Brodie said. "It’s always nice to see that."
Toronto outshot St. Louis 13-4 in the third period.
“I thought everyone played great,” Brodie said. “We had lots of energy. We got on pucks, got on the forecheck and got the win.”
NOTES: Maple Leafs forward Auston Matthews had his nine-game point streak end (nine goals, six assists). ... Kessel had the secondary assist on Toropchenko's goal. It was his first NHL point in his 19th game. ... Forward Alex Steeves made his season debut for the Maple Leafs after being recalled from Toronto of the American Hockey League on Tuesday. He had one shot and was minus-1 in 10:14 of ice time.
