Tavares pushing Marner to use his shot more often Maple Leafs’ winger has been dynamic offensively this season, but he’s been deferring on too many open shots lately, Kristen Shilton writes.

Kristen Shilton TSN Toronto Maple Leafs Reporter Follow|Archive

TSN’s Kristen Shilton checks in daily with news and notes on the Maple Leafs. The Hurricanes held a 10:30 a.m. morning skate at PNC Arena, followed by the Leafs’ optional morning skate.

It’s hard to argue any player has been more dynamic for the Maple Leafs this season than Mitch Marner. He’s their leader in points (40) and assists (34) with the second-most shots (82), but he has found the back of the net only six times.

Marner’s use of his shot has started to noticeably decline lately. In two of his last four games the winger has put zero pucks on net, deferring on open shots to pass. That’s not exactly what Mike Babcock would like to see from the 21-year-old, but he’s also loath to get in his ear about it.

“I think Mitch is one of those guys where it’s pretty hard to give advice to, because he makes the right play most of the time,” Babcock said after the Leafs’ optional morning skate. “But we encourage him all the time in practice to be shooting it. I think on the power play he can shoot it more as well because he has a dangerous shot, but he makes a lot of good decisions. You hate to be giving him too much advice there.”

John Tavares has reaped the biggest reward from Marner’s pass-first mentality, racking up a team-leading 18 goals in 30 games with Marner by his side at even strength and on the power play. With so many pucks dropping for him thus far, Tavares is lobbying for Marner to take care of himself out on the ice, too.

“I’m on him right now. We’ve got to get him one in the back of the net, spread the wealth around,” Tavares said. “I think he’s got a lot of deception in his game and he can be very difficult to read. His ability to look players off and find the passing lanes – I think he can be very similar with his shot.”

Tavares stressed it doesn’t have to be “the hardest shot in the league” to be effective.

“It’s just about being able to fool the goaltender, just trying to be hard to read and trying not to be predictable,” he said.

In the Carolina Hurricanes’ dressing room, defencemen are very familiar with how dangerous Marner can be at any given moment – regardless of how frequently he’s shooting.

“You watch a lot of the highlights and you don’t know whether he’s shooting or passing it down low, back door, what he can do through the seam,” said Trevor van Riemsdyk. “He can obviously make any pass in the book and he’s deceptive in the way he does it and makes it hard to read.”

That’s why Tavares said he “always [has] to be ready” when taking a shift with Marner, prepared for plays ranging from regular to remarkable that may generate a scoring chance.

“I think what’s really going to help him be a good player for a long time is his commitment without the puck to get it back and reading the play defensively and doing those things," Tavares said. "I think that leads to him having the puck so much and doing what he does best, making plays and finding people in open ice and creating opportunities.”

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*Tuesday's game will be the 700th of Tavares' NHL career, but the Leafs centre insists his emotions come game time will be the same as they were in his earliest days around the sport.

“The feeling I have playing the game hasn’t changed since I was a kid,” he said. “I recognize that’s something pretty special, even though it also becomes how you make a living…just having that same basic feeling, loving it as much as I do was always special to me.”

Tavares spent the first nine years of his career with the New York Islanders, who selected him first overall in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft. In 669 games there, he recorded 272 goals and 349 assists before opting to leave for the Leafs in free agency last summer. He has 18 goals and 14 assists this year in 30 games.

“Being able to play against the best in the world at this level consistently and for that level of time, I’m proud of it and I want to keep it going,” Tavares said.

Finding instant chemistry with Marner is part of what Tavares credits for his team-leading goal production this season.

“I think there’s been a lot of growth for our line and our game,” said Tavares, who will skate with Marner and Connor Brown on Tuesday. “[I’m] just trying to be hungry for the opportunity and wanting to be in the space where you can create a chance to be able to put it in.”

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Three weeks ago in Carolina, the Leafs learned how much damage a bad first period can do against an opportunistic team like the Hurricanes.

Toronto lost that first meeting of the season 5-2, giving up 29 shots in the first period and 45 overall. The Leafs were still only down 2-1 after 20 minutes, but never escaped from the shadow of that opening frame.

They’re aiming to do things differently in Tuesday’s rematch.

“It starts with their D; it’s probably one of the best D corps in the league,” said Jake Gardiner of limiting Carolina’s chances. “If we can try to cut off passes to the top and limit that, it will help.”

Early Tuesday morning, Babcock went back through all 29 shots the Leafs saw in that first period to assess what went wrong, and determined the same thing he did on the night of their defeat – when Toronto stopped working early the team veered off the path to victory.

“We lost every race and every battle in the first period in this building,” he said. “We had a real good second, got ourselves back to a spot and then weren’t able to execute on it. You have to start on time in this league and we all know that. That’s the way to have success.”

Carolina found room to operate against Toronto by keeping their plan simple but strategic, something the Leafs can combat with more attention to detail in their own game.

“They play a pretty straight north-south game, play with speed and quickness and throw a lot of pucks at the net and send a lot of people there,” said Tavares. “It’s a pretty mobile defence. They do a pretty good job of getting out of their own end. For us, we have to have that tenacity and that determination to close time and space and get through the neutral zone and forecheck well.”

Hurricanes’ captain Justin Williams summed up how to slow the Leafs down with a familiar phrase – “time and space, time and space” – and said the key for Carolina notching another victory over Toronto will be to “make their good players play defence.”

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Maple Leafs projected lines vs. Carolina:

Brown-Tavares-Marner

Johnsson-Matthews-Kapanen

Marleau-Kadri-Nylander

Lindholm-Gauthier-Ennis

Rielly-Hainsey

Gardiner-Zaitsev

Dermott-Ozhiganov

Andersen starts

Sparks​