Mitch Marner And The Toronto Maple Leafs Are Your Streak Bowl 2022 Champions Of The World
Mike Carlson. Getty Images.They did it! Pop the bottles of champagne! Plan the parade! The Toronto Maple Leafs are champions!
For the first time in NHL history, we had two players going up against each other last night who were both riding point streaks of 18+ games. Toronto vs Dallas. The Leafs vs the Stars. Mitch Marner vs Jason Robertson.
Mitch had a point in each of his last 19 games heading into last night, putting up 9 goals and 17 assists. Robo had a point in each of his last 18 games, putting up 21 goals and 13 assists. (Sidenote: It's insane how quickly Jason Robertson turned into a legitimate superstar in the NHL. Maybe I'll blog more about that tomorrow). It all came down to whoever could keep the streak alive last night.
The NHL has been around for over a hundred years and a matchup like this has never happened before. When you think about the fact that Wayne Gretzky was usually on at least a 20-game point streak at any point throughout his career, it's pretty crazy to think this was the first one. So Streak Bowl 2022 went down in Dallas and Mitch Marner decided that 5 minutes was long enough to keep his streak going to 20.
Now I know an assist coming off a rebound isn't always the prettiest way to rack up points. But 1) they all count the same on the scoresheet. And 2) that's still some slick work from ol' Mitchy boy. Flips Heiskanen's hips at the top of the zone. The patient little pump fake on the initial trigger to make sure there's as much chaos as possible in front of the net, blocker side for a better chance of a rebound. Pucks on net, baby. That's what gets you paid, that's what gets you laid.
20 games in a row for Mitch Marner. Perhaps now people will know he's in the league.
What a moment for the Leafs, though. They said it couldn't be done. They said the Leafs constantly choke whenever the lights are the brightest. But I guess they showed everyone last night with the biggest December 6th win in the history of hockey. Not only did they keep Jason Robertson off the scoresheet last night, but they kept the entire Stars lineup off with a 4-0 shutout win. Hang that banner in the rafters, baby. Leafs forever.