Maple Leafs' Mitch Marner sets up goal, with a big assist from the bench

Wednesday night's Toronto Maple Leafs pregame hype was all about the return of star Auston Matthews — and he did his part with a goal and assist before the game was 12 minutes old.

But the most impressive goal of the first period against the San Jose Sharks was John Tavares' second one with 18 seconds remaining.

That's because Toronto forward Mitch Marner was in his team's defensive zone when he realized his stick was broken.

He had to drop it to avoid a penalty and then waved to the bench. The speedy Marner was in full stride when he grabbed a fresh stick from the bench, accepted a pass in the offensive zone from Zach Hyman and passed to Tavares.

Bam, a 3-1 Toronto lead.

And Marner made sure to point to the bench and assistant equipment manager Bobby  Hastings in appreciation.

"Third assist, they should count it," Matthews told Sportsnet. "Put him on the scoresheet."

Matthews had missed the last 14 games with a shoulder injury and was playing his first game since Oct. 27. His first-period goal and a third-period deflection give him 12 goals in 12 games. He was named first star of the 5-3 Leafs win.

Toronto's Patrick Marleau also made history with his second-period goal. By scoring against the Sharks, he now has a goal against all 31 NHL teams. He has at least one game-winning goal against 30 of them, missing only the Vegas Golden Knights.

Marleau had played for San Jose for the first 19 seasons of his career and was facing the Sharks for the fourth time.