Marner works magic for Leafs in Bruins win

One night when Patrick Marleau celebrated his 1600th game in the NHL, Mitch Marner did what he did best: scoring goals.

"He has an excellent vision," said Marleau, 39. "Thanks to his way of skating and handling the puck, he can maneuver with the guys and get the guys to him, he did not hurt tonight."

"He found a good pace here," he added. "It's only going to keep getting better, I think, and it's pretty scary."

Asked about Marner, Leafs coach Mike Babbad said all the big players manage to play at their own pace.

"What is amazing is that most of us have neither the time nor the space, or we just hit it here, hit it there and pursue it." then the really good guys seem to have all the time in the world … they're slipping all over the rink and it seems effortless. "

Watch Marner shine in the Leafs victory:

Travis Dermott, who scored the first goal of the match thanks to a decisive pbad from Marner, was amazed in front of his teammate.

"With the puck, without the puck, he's really a slippery guy," Dermott said. "And if you're open, he'll find you and put the puck directly on the tape and pretty flat.This is a guy you want to be with."

Each team scored two goals in the frenzied second half. Boston beat Toronto 18-9. As the Leafs led 3-2 in the third, Boston's Danton Heinen hit the post but the Bruins failed to break the Leaf's defense.

Zach Hyman added an empty net goal with a time remaining at 1:35 to seal a fifth consecutive victory in Toronto. Frederik Andersen made 38 saves for his 13th win of the season.

Igor Ozhiganov and Josh Leivo also scored for Toronto (17-8-0). Ozhiganov celebrated his first career goal in the NHL and Dermott his second.

Watch as the magic of Marner leads to the goal of the first career of Ozhiganov:

David Pastrnak, author of a hat trick in a 5-1 win against Toronto on Nov. 10, scored two goals for Boston (13-7-4).

The Bruins lost Kevan Miller at the end of the first period, after the defender threw the puck into the throat after a shot by John Tavares. The point-blank shot seemed to hit Miller's stick and go up to the neck.

Boston coach Bruce Cbadidy said that Miller had gone to the hospital and that he would stay overnight for observation, with a swelling in the throat.

"For now, he's out of danger, according to what we've heard," Cbadidy said.

"It looks like X-rays are negative, [he] I had it in my throat, "he added. They will keep him all night for observation, to make sure his breathing stays normal. Hope it can come back [Tuesday], that's the plan. "

Both teams played their fourth game in six evenings.

The victory places third place in Toronto, four points ahead of Boston's fourth in the Atlantic Division.

The Bruins, who won 3-2 in Montreal on Saturday night, came after winning two straight games and three of their last four. Toronto had just defeated Philadelphia 6-0 on Saturday night.

Marleau is the 11th player in the NHL to reach the culmination of the 1600 games of the regular season. Marleau has missed just 31 games in 21 seasons since his NHL debut on October 1, 1997.

"Great, human," said Babbad before the game.

"Hard worker, great pro, great person," he added. "So important to this team, it's not even funny and I do not even talk about what it's doing on the ice, it's fantastic."

Marleau was applauded by the Scotiabank Arena crowd after a video tribute in the first period.

"It was amazing, it was unexpected, but it was greatly appreciated," he said.

It was the 672nd meeting between the two teams of the Six Originals in a rivalry dating back to 1924.