Marleau, Maple Leafs ground Jets, 7-2
WINNIPEG, Manitoba -- The Toronto Maple Leafs played a complete 60-minute game to open their season Wednesday night, but they really needed only three minutes to defeat the Winnipeg Jets 7-2.
Within the span of 2 minutes, 38 seconds, the visitors sprinted out to a 3-0 lead late in the first period. Forwards Nazem Kadri, James van Riemsdyk and William Nylander bulged the twine behind Steve Mason, sending many jersey-wearing Leafs fans -- maybe thousands of them -- into a frenzy.
At the other end of the rink, Frederik Andersen stopped 35 out of 37 shots in the Leafs goal for the victory.
Kadri opened the scoring when he banged home his own rebound past Mason on the power play at 15:45.
Van Riemsdyk doubled the lead shortly after on a broken play following an offensive zone face-off, taken by Tyler Bozak. The puck squirted loose, and van Riemsdyk beat Mason low to the stick side at 17:40.
Nylander made it 3-0 on a delayed penalty call 43 seconds later when defenseman Jake Gardiner hit his center with a no-look pass to the right of Mason's crease. It was the Leafs' 10th shot on goal.
Newly signed center Patrick Marleau gave Leafs fans more reason to celebrate when he finished off a pretty pass from reigning Rookie of the Year winner Auston Matthews at 8:32 of the second period to give the visitors a 4-0 lead.
Marleau put the game out of reach, if it wasn't already, when Kadri found him alone in the slot just 36 seconds into third period. His quick wrister zipped past the outstretched glove of Mason.
That was enough for Jets coach Paul Maurice, who pulled Mason in favor of Connor Hellebuyck. Mason stopped 15 of the 20 shots he faced. Hellebuyck wound up saving nine of 11 shots.
Sophomore center Mitch Marner put the visitors up 6-0 on the power play at 8:07, which sent many Jets fans heading for the exits.
The Jets broke Andersen's shutout bid at 11:31 of the third period when right winger Patrik Laine found center Mark Scheifele at the edge of the crease. The euphoria in the building was short-lived, however, as Matthews deflected a shot past Hellebuyck just 26 seconds later.
Jets center Mathieu Perreault scored in garbage time when he snapped a wrist shot between Andersen's legs.
NOTES: The Jets were the hottest team leading into the season opener, riding a seven-game winning streak to end the 2016-17 season, a franchise record. ... Jets RW Patrik Laine led the NHL last season with a shooting percentage of 17.6 percent among all players who took at least 200 shots. He had no goals and two shots on target Wednesday. ... The Maple Leafs lead the all-time series with the Jets/Atlanta Thrashers franchise 31-18-1-8.