TORONTO (AP) — Mitch Marner stepped on the ice for warmups and heard some boos during an initial lap around a rink he knows well.
The Vegas Golden Knights winger experienced more jeers on his first shift. That noise only got louder when Marner finally touched the puck, followed by an unexpected ovation after heading to the bench.
In his first game back at Scotiabank Arena since a drawn-out divorce with the Toronto Maple Leafs was finalized last summer, Marner felt a range of emotions Friday night.
And left with a 6-3 victory.
“Passionate fan base,” Marner said. “They love their team. It was interesting the whole night. When warmups hit, it really just felt odd and weird.”
The Maple Leafs honored Marner, who spent nine seasons in Toronto playing for the team he cheered for as a kid, during the first television timeout. There was a mixture of boos and cheers throughout the 40-second video tribute as many fans rose to their feet. Marner raised his right arm and tapped his chest in acknowledgment with Vegas already up 2-0.
“I was trying to just take it in and not get emotional,” he said. “Still got a lot of love for these fans.”
Asked if there was a sense of relief the homecoming was finally over, Marner replied with a smile: “Completely, definitely, honestly.”
Vegas captain Mark Stone thought the atmosphere hit the right notes all night.
“You’re expecting boos, right?” Stone said. ”(Marner) doesn’t play for the Maple Leafs anymore, but they tip their cap to what he did for this organization.”
Drafted fourth overall in 2015, Marner enjoyed plenty of regular-season success with the Maple Leafs, but was a lightning rod of criticism in hockey’s biggest media market for Toronto’s inability to break through in the playoffs.
A slow march out the door from his de facto hometown last season as unrestricted free agency loomed finally ended when he was shipped to Vegas in a sign-and-trade deal that netted Marner an eight-year, $96 million extension.
“That (booing) was fine,” he said. “I knew was it going to come … the cheering when I was going off was pretty funny. I didn’t see that one coming.”
Marner, who picked up two assists in a 6-5 overtime victory against his old team on the Las Vegas Strip last week, has 12 goals and 40 assists in 50 games this season.
“Our guys were going to try to bring their best for Mitch,” Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said. “And they did.’
Marner’s new club sits comfortably in a playoff position atop the Pacific Division standings, while Toronto is on the outside in the Eastern Conference post-season race.
“The booing I had, it was what I expected,” he said. “Tried to play through it, play with the puck, play my game. And do my thing.”
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