It seems like the NHL schedule-makers love to put the Leafs in this scenario. Toronto found themselves playing two games in two days, facing off against Detroit, and Washington respectively.

On the first half of the back-to-back, Toronto defeated Detroit 5-2, with a Mitch Marner hat trick to keep Detroit on the backburner of the Atlantic division.

On Marner’s first goal, John Tavares found Marner for a one-timer with a blind, backhand between the legs pass to bring the lead to 2-0 within the first ten minutes of the first frame.

Marner scored his second of the night late in the first on the powerplay, with a cross-ice pass from William Nylander.

“It is great to get a hat trick, but the first two goals only came because of great passes from my teammates,” Marner said. “I’m just trying to find some quiet ice and take advantage of the chances they are providing.”

Mitch finished off his hat trick in the second after tipping a shot from Oliver Ekman-Larsson. Nick Robertson scored to add his name to the scoresheet just before the horn sounded to end the second period.

Detroit scored a couple goals in the third, but they weren’t able to make the full comeback en route to a Toronto 5-2 win.

On Saturday night, the Washington Capitals’ game was a different story. John Tavares and Bobby McMann scored and Matt Murray made 27 saves for the Maple Leafs, who are 1-3-0 in their past four.

Tavares was able to deflect a Simon Benoit shot from the left point to score his 18th of the season and put the Leafs ahead early. Washington capitalized quickly with a goal from Andrew Mangiapane.

“We certainly had chances, had looks,” Tavares said. “We were on the wrong side of it on special teams today. It’s just small margins, execution at times. We have to execute defensively and when we create offense, we have to find ways to break them down and beat their goaltender. Goalies are going to play well, have a hot hand and you tip your cap to that but we want to find a way to break through and earn the result we need.”

Bobby McMann scored in the second to tie the game 2-2. Unfortunately the Maple Leafs weren’t able to take control after that, leading to a 5-2 loss.

“Probably three mistakes in the game that we made and it went in our net,” Toronto coach Craig Berube said. “Played a pretty hard game, lot of opportunities, we didn’t finish.”

Toronto wraps up their 2024 calendar year on New Year’s Eve against the Islanders.