Leafs' rookie sensations dominate in home-ice debut

Marner, Zaitsev pick up 1st NHL points in Leafs' victory

Media | Mitch Marner snipes 1st career NHL goal as Leafs win home opener over Bruins

Caption: The Leafs 2015 1st round pick scored a beauty against the Bruins for his 1st career goal

Open Full Embed in New Tab (external link)Loading external pages may require significantly more data usage.
Move aside Team North America, the Toronto Maple Leafs are creating a millennial sensation of their own.
Playing on home ice for the first time, rookie Mitch Marner sniped home his first NHL goal moments after fellow rookie Connor Brown scored for his seventh point in nine NHL games dating back to last season.

Embed | Twitter

Open Full Embed in New Tab (external link)Loading external pages may require significantly more data usage.

Embed | Twitter

Open Full Embed in New Tab (external link)Loading external pages may require significantly more data usage.

Embed | Twitter

Open Full Embed in New Tab (external link)Loading external pages may require significantly more data usage.

Marner's parents were at the Air Canada Centre to watch the game, though only one of them got to see their son's milestone achievement live.

Embed | Twitter

Open Full Embed in New Tab (external link)Loading external pages may require significantly more data usage.

Embed | Twitter

Open Full Embed in New Tab (external link)Loading external pages may require significantly more data usage.

Rookie Nikita Zaitsev also quietly picked up his first NHL point, an assist on the Marner goal.

Embed | Twitter

Open Full Embed in New Tab (external link)Loading external pages may require significantly more data usage.

This comes just one game after 2016 first overall draft pick Auston Matthews set an NHL record with four goals in his NHL debut on Wednesday.
And the records kept coming Saturday, as the Leafs became the first team since the NHL expansion to have rookies score the first six goals of the season.

Embed | Twitter

Open Full Embed in New Tab (external link)Loading external pages may require significantly more data usage.

Fresh off being named No. 100 on the Leafs' Top 100 players of all-time list, James van Riemsdyk ended the rookie scoring streak by potting Toronto's third goal of the first period.
It was his first goal since changing his jersey number, the only player on the team forced to make a swap after the Leafs retired the numbers of 17 players earlier in the evening in a centennial season ceremony.

Embed | Twitter

Open Full Embed in New Tab (external link)Loading external pages may require significantly more data usage.

Just how exciting was the first period?
Well, the Leafs haven't scored three goals in the first frame since last January.

Embed | Twitter

Open Full Embed in New Tab (external link)Loading external pages may require significantly more data usage.

The Leafs have no less than six players on their roster that qualify as rookies (that's players 25 and under who have not played more than 25 NHL games in any previous seasons) including Marner, Zaitsev, Matthews, Brown, William Nylander and Zach Hyman. Each player has picked up at least one point in the Leafs' first two games of the season.
Toronto finished the evening with a notch in the 'W' column, defeating Boston 4-1.
Chalk one up for the youth movement.

Embed | Twitter

Open Full Embed in New Tab (external link)Loading external pages may require significantly more data usage.