3 most impressive Toronto Maple Leafs players from 6-3 win over Carolina Hurricanes feat. Pontus Holmberg

It was back to work for the Toronto Maple Leafs, who welcomed back captain Auston Matthews and fellow "Core 4" forward Mitch Marner from the Four Nations Face-Off tournament that resulted in a victory for Marner and Team Canada and a close second-place finish for Matthews and Team USA.

The Maple Leafs hosted the Carolina Hurricanes at Scotiabank Arena and ultimately emerged with a 6-3 victory that improved their record to 34-20-2; the Hurricanes fell to 33-20-4.

The opening 20 minutes of play was an offensive clinic for the Leafs, who took a 4-0 lead into the first intermission. The scoring was started by Toronto's Alex Steeves, followed by a tally from Pontus Holmberg. The Leafs then doubled their 2-0 lead to 4-0 thanks to goals from David Kampf and John Tavares.

Neither team found the back of the net in the second period, as Toronto took their 4-0 lead into the second intermission.

The Hurricanes managed to get onto the scoreboard for the first time in the contest after defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere scored his seventh goal just past the midway point of the game's final frame.

The Hurricanes then managed to make Maple Leafs fans nervous by cutting into the lead even further with goals just 20 seconds apart from Andrei Svechnikov and Jacob Slavin.

But with Kochetkov on the bench for a sixth attacker on the ice, the Maple Leafs iced the game away with an empty-net tally from Holmberg, his second goal.

3 most impressive Toronto Maple Leafs players from 6-3 win over Carolina Hurricanes

#1. Pontus Holmberg

Easily the player of the game for the Maple Leafs, Holmberg not only scored early in the first period for the Maple Leafs but also secured the victory with an empty-net tally late in regulation.

He also added an assist and finished with a +3 rating.

#2. Alex Steeves

Playing in just his fifth game of the season, Steeves enjoyed a banner night as part of the win over the Hurricanes.

He registered his first career NHL goal and his second career assist while also finishing with a +2 rating. The milestone marker came after Tavares intercepted an errant pass and fed a one-timer to Steeves in the left face-off circle, who one-timed the puck past goaltender Pyotr Kochetkov:

#3. Anthony Stolarz

Appearing in just his second game since February 6, Stolarz played well for the Maple Leafs and more closely resembled his early-season form.

He made several key stops on Carolina even though things got a little close for comfort late in regulation; he made 31 total saves, including four saves on Svechnikov and another three on Gostisbehere.