They rained jeers down on Kirill Marchenko when his name was first announced through the Nationwide Arena loudspeakers. They volleyed even more when he first stepped onto the ice. More still the first time he touched the puck, and every time after that, too.
But the crowd filling the Columbus Blue Jackets’ arena booed loudest eight minutes into this tense Tuesday night affair, when their former starring man darted to the net, turned his skate blades toward the crease, and let an Auston Matthews bullet pass careen off his foot and into the back of the cage, spurring the beginning of an eventual 6-2 Toronto Maple Leafs rout.
“You know, the best thing is to score early, I think, so he got that one right away,” head coach Jim Hiller said after the dust settled on his club’s impressive road win. “That was probably a pretty good relief for him. And I thought he played well. He was dangerous. He was what the Columbus fans have come to see out of him — a dangerous player, and pretty electric.”
There was no love lost between Marchenko and the city he called home for the past four years. That much was made clear as crystal hours before the two teams even hit the ice, when the winger’s former linemate, Adam Fantilli, made his feelings about No. 86’s exit from Columbus known.
“Marchy not wanting to be here, it’s tough not to take it personally,” the Blue Jackets centreman said after Columbus’s morning skate. “I’m happy we’ve got guys who want to be here. It would’ve been a nightmare having a guy that didn’t want to be here all year.”
Ten minutes into Tuesday night’s game, Fantilli put an exclamation mark on that statement, leaning into a hefty check that laid the Russian out on the ice. A few minutes later, the Nationwide Arena staff replayed the hit on the jumbotron, as a few lines from Taylor Swift — “We are never, ever, ever getting back together” — rang out overtop. The crowd went wild.
A couple minutes after that, Marchenko was given a brief ‘Welcome Back’ tribute of sorts for the four seasons he played as a Blue Jacket before making his desire for a new chapter clear. But not without another tinge of venom — the winger was shown on screen for a moment, with CeeLo Green’s Forget You playing in the background, before the jumbotron cut back to the Fantilli hit once more.
“It’s fine,” Marchenko said of the hostile reception late Tuesday night. “I’ve been ready for that. I can’t control that. … It doesn’t matter for me, actually. I just do my work on the ice, and try to be better.”
Despite the tension in the air Tuesday, the 26-year-old said this return to his old barn was one to remember.
“A special night, for sure. I tried to think about my game, tried to focus on what I can control — my game, my shifts, work hard,” he said. “Happy to play here, happy to be back. Thank you to all the fans, everybody who was here when I was here for four years. I have only positive notes. It was a good time.
“But I’m really happy to win this game. It’s so important for me.”
While No. 86 was the subject of much of the morning’s discussion in the Blue Jackets locker room, while he got on the board early to get his club going, it was Toronto’s top line that led the Maple Leafs to Tuesday’s dominant win.
After William Nylander struck early in the second period to give Toronto a one-goal lead, the club’s top trio of Auston Matthews, Easton Cowan and Jack Roslovic reeled off a goal apiece to take the visitors into second intermission up 5-1.
It was a banner night for young Cowan, whose tally came off a short-handed two-on-one alongside Nylander — “I think the goalie was favouring Willy, which I probably would too,” Cowan said with a chuckle post-game — and who finished the night with his first career three-point game.
“I can’t say enough good things about him, honestly,” Hiller said of the young winger post-game. “He’s exceeded my expectations — and I had high expectations for him. But he told me this is what he was going to do. So, he’s living up to his end of the bargain.”
Easier said than done for a 21-year-old in just his second campaign, perhaps. But the 2023 No. 28 pick has seemed a different player this season compared to the nervous young gun who suited up for Toronto as a rookie last season.
“I think a lot of players, they have high expectations for themselves. But as a young player, it’s hard to fulfil those expectations this early,” Hiller said. “Especially some of the stuff with his game that he had to change a little bit. But he’s done it.
“It’s just understanding how the NHL works. It’s one thing how junior works, it’s one thing how college works, one thing how the American League works. How does the NHL work? You’ve kind of got to understand that. I think he’s gotten there.”
The breakout gives Cowan 10 points through 11 games this season. A matching three-point night gives Roslovic nine points in as many. And Matthews, who seems to have fully unearthed the all-world form that won him a Hart Trophy a half-decade ago, now sits at eight goals and 18 points through 11 tilts.
“His leadership, it goes a long way,” Cowan said of No. 34’s immense impact so far this season. “You guys see what he does on the ice, but off the ice he’s just as good. He’s been great for us.
“He’s our captain for a reason.”
It was a worrying night for another key leader on the Maple Leafs bench, as Jake McCabe went down with a dangerous injury late in the first period of Tuesday’s win. The veteran defender was clipped up high by an errant stick from Columbus’s Kent Johnston, whose blade appeared to rake McCabe near his left eye. He stayed down on the ice for some time as trainers rushed to his side, cleaning up the blood.
McCabe didn’t return, heaping more pressure on an already short-handed defence corps that’s still missing Chris Tanev. Hiller said post-game that the former appeared to be alright.
“We held him out for precautionary (reasons),” the coach said. “He seems to be doing OK. But we just wanted to make sure.”
“I’m really grateful it looks like it wasn’t as bad as we originally thought,” said fellow defender Marshall Rifai, who was thrust into a greater-than-expected role with the veteran sidelined, and earned his first carer NHL goal as a result. “That was scary there for a second, but he’s a huge piece of this team, and he’ll be back helping us.”
McCabe’s uncertain status aside, it was a memorable night and a well-earned two points for the visiting Leafs, who’ve now rebounded from their three-game slide earlier this month with back-to-back wins. But it’s the process that the team is focusing on more than the results.
“It feels really good,” Morgan Rielly said of the turnaround. “You know, there’s pace, it looks pretty simple, pretty straightforward. That’s the good news — I think as a group, we’ve had a tendency to overcomplicate things or try to make too many plays. I think when we’re able to keep it simple and just manage the puck, our big guys can take over. I think that’s what happened here.”
“I think our leaders led the way,” added Rifai. “Auston was unbelievable again, Rielly was unbelievable. I think our leaders really stepped up. Our best players were our best players, and that’s why we got the two points.”