Toronto Maple Leafs fans had a lot to smile about on Wednesday night. Not only did their team pick up a big 5-3 victory over the San Jose Sharks, but the Leafs also welcomed Auston Matthews back to their lineup for the first time in 14 games.
One of the Leafs who played a big role in their 18th win of the season was forward Mitch Marner, who finished the night with three assists. However, he might have only finished with just two assists on the night if it wasn’t for a fantastic heads up play by the team’s equipment manager Bobby Hastings.
Just before Marner set up John Tavares for his 17th goal of the season, the third-year winger had his stick break in his own zone, but thanks to a quick reaction from Hastings it turned into a goal for the Leafs and not a goal against them.
With barely any time to react, Hastings had a replacement stick ready to go for Marner, who grabbed it and stormed up the ice to set up the team’s third goal of the night. Following the game, both Marner and Auston Matthews showed Hastings plenty of love in their post-game interviews, with the latter of the two players saying he deserves an assist on the play.
While Matthews tried to get Hastings his first career NHL assist, Marner said in his post-game interview with TSN’s Mark Masters that he owes Hastings a drink for that heads up play.
“I got to ask him what’s his favourite drink and it’ll be coming to him soon,” Marner told Masters when asked about Hastings’ quick work to get a new stick in his hands.
Morgan Rielly also spoke up on Hastings' behalf, saying their equipment manager deserves his own post-game media scrum for his quick thinking on the bench that helped them secure the victory.
The goal came at a big moment as the Leafs took a 3-1 lead into the first intermission because of it. Although they went on to win the game 5-3 the game could have gone a lot differently if it weren’t for Hastings’ quick split second reaction on the play.
(H/T Twitter/markhmasters)
