Then the Russian rookie — hockey stream exploding from the brim of his club-issue ball cap, turned backwards — unleashed an infectious, cheesy laugh through his missing tooth.

Life is good for young Maple Leafs these days. Laughter comes easy. Opportunities abound. And it doesn’t really matter whether Auston Matthews flies to Munich or Mars.

Not until the coach’s harsh system of control is adhered to will the Marlies drafted and remaining all-stars fill the void, and the wins – now 6-1 since the captain hit injured reserve – continue to pile up as AHL call-ups.

To be clear, John Tavares, Mitch Marner and William Nylander were all fantastic in Wednesday’s painful, patient and sustained victory. The veteran shutdown pair of Chris Tanev and Jake McCabe were generally excellent. And Joseph Woll pitched a 31-save shutout.

But it’s the injection of fresh blood into the middle of a depleted line-up that gave this victory a different touch.

Fraser Minten – called up after just a handful of Marlies appearances due to a David Kämpf injury – came in seamlessly and centered the Leafs’ often vanilla third line. He was bumped to the top line when Tavares took compensatory penalties, and by the end of the night he was throwing in the penalty kill and top power play unit.

Berube was right to trust the dashing 20-year-old prospect, as Minten was not only sharp enough to find a lane for his first NHL goal, but also broke his thought process on how to get that framed puck:

“It’s a dream come true to be here,” Minten said, after a celebratory turn as one of the competition’s three stars.

“It’s hard to describe. It’s years of hard work. It’s for all my family members, my coaches, my friends over the years. It’s so much more than me, and it feels amazing.”

Minten took his high ankle sprain in preseason to heart and simply focused on his rehabilitation. Still with a bandage wrapped around his left foot, the kingpin spoke about how he is now “older, stronger, more mature” than during his four-match stint on the show last fall.

‘It’s a little less awe. It’s more like you can fit in and be effective,” Minten reasoned.

Minten’s wingman Grebenkin was also effective – and not just by making his teammates and reporters laugh.

In love with the sport since he was seven, when his parents put skates on his feet, Grebenkin was cheered during his solo rookie round and thanked his teammates, general manager and the city of Toronto after 11 minutes of hard, fearless hockey.

No, Grebenkin isn’t quite Matthew Tkachuk – the player he most admires – but over the course of one day, he did provide personality, quotes, nasty forechecks and a few scoring chances.

“He was a factor. You noticed him, and that’s great for your first game,” Minten said.

“It’s not easy. I mean, he’s just from another country, right? It’s a different language, everything. So he did great.”

Woll said Grebenkin was the first Leaf to show up Wednesday morning, smiling in disgust.

“Most of the information about his personality comes from nonverbal cues,” Woll chuckled. ‘I wish I knew more of what he says because he’s always so positive and so happy. So he’s a great person to add to the team. Great energy.”

Perhaps prompted by a rare three-day break or the urgency that comes with a worthy opponent or six Missing forwards, the Maple Leafs brought a sense of purpose into this midweeker.

“Resilient. Fought. Competed. It was a tough game, as we thought,” Berube said proudly. “Vegas is a very good team. They don’t give you a lot. You have to play smart. So I thought our guys played smart. It was a battle. We fought hard.

It was Berube’s Blues team, you’ll recall, that defeated Bruins-turned-Knights coach Bruce Cassidy’s Bruins in Game 7 of the 2019 Cup Final. And going in, Cassidy knew he was looking for another version of the Leafs.

“They are tighter in front of their net defensively and are taking care of business. Probably a different animal than I’m used to seeing,” Cassidy said before the game. “I’ve seen a lot of Berube teams, so we know they’re going to play hard, they’re going to play together.”

That solidarity was on full display after Zach Whitecloud’s controversial hit in the neutral zone on Matthew Knies, who left the game with an upper-body injury. (Whitecloud’s hit was not penalized after review, and no Leaf sounded publicly challenged.)

So what if scrappers Ryan Reaves and Max Domi weren’t in the lineup? From Tavares to Oliver Ekman-Larsson to Conor Timmins, the Leafs mixed it up and held strong.

They have never flinched or shied away.

“Well, it’s not a good thing that he’s hurt, but it definitely brings some energy to the team,” Woll said.

“Sometimes anger and those things can be used to get you through a game. So I was just happy to see that we stopped them after something like that. I was pretty angry about it, so I tried to use that as best I could.

Just like Minten and Grebenkin seize their opportunity.

“Team win, best moment,” Grebenkin smiled as he worked through his post-match scrum in his second language.

“I waited a long time to play in the NHL.”

• Golden Knights backup Ilya Samsonov had dinner with old Magnitogorsk friend Grebenkin and Ivan Barbashev in Toronto on Tuesday night, but was unfortunately stapled to the couch upon his return to Toronto.

Speaking to reporters, Samsonov said he had two great seasons with the Leafs, helping them to their only playoff series victory in the last two decades.

“Last year was tough, but I feel better now and I know how to get through it when you have a few bad days. You don’t worry about it anymore. You have to keep moving,” said Samsonov, taking in his return in one match.

‘Pretty good, like coming home. Everyone is so friendly,” he smiled. “We didn’t win the Stanley Cup, but we had a nice group. Good time.”

Told it was a shame he didn’t start against the Leafs, an enthusiastic Samsonov wasn’t having it. His sights were already set on Ottawa on Thursday: “No, no, no. Tomorrow! Against Ullmark. My man!”

Bruin-turned-Senator Linus Ullmark, you may recall, disparaged Samsonov during an offseason interview with “Leafs Morning Take.”

“I was surprised that they kept Samsonov so many games against us in the play-offs. Because I felt like every time we played the Leafs and (Woll) was in net, it felt like it was more of a challenge,” Ullmark said.

“Even though I’m not a player, just watching him, it seemed like he had so much more control over the situations that came his way.”

• Nice touch that GM Michael “Pinball” Clemons and a few members of his champion Toronto Argonauts trot out of the Gray Cup for a ceremonial showdown.

Even better: a random Leafs fan shouts: “ARRRRR-Gooooos!” at the top of his lungs, breaking the silence during random regroups and dump-ins.

• Simon Benoit registered eight hits in the game and was the first Leaf to jump Whitecloud, standing up for the injured Knies, receiving a double penalty for his efforts.

After a few healthy scratches, this was by far the new dad’s best game of the season.

“He was excellent tonight,” Berube raved. “More aggressive than he has been. Not just without the puck, being physical and closing plays and doing things like that, but I thought he skated the puck well tonight and moved into the offensive zone, out of the D-zone. He moved his feet and made plays, moved up and pucked up the ice. Benny played a great game.”

• Alex Pietrangelo was the captain of Berube’s 2019 Cup team in St. Louis, so he couldn’t help but smile slyly when asked what to expect from the new Leafs.

“Pretty familiar with the Berube-coached teams,” Pietrangelo said. “You know they’re going to come at us. You know they’re going to play hard. If you know Chief, he expects you to work hard and demand a lot.”

“There’s a lot I can’t say right now. Some good stories. But honestly, I have nothing but respect for Chief. I mean, he made me a better player and a better leader and challenged me day in and day out. And I’m better for it,” Pietrangelo said.

“I was challenged to get the best out of myself. I mean, it’s a long season. There will be games where you don’t play very well and maybe you don’t have that. But it’s part of being a leader on the team. He pushed me to do my best every day, and I will appreciate him for that.”

• Is there a more divisive topic in Leafland than whether we should re-sign the red-hot Marner during the season or wait until we experience a ninth post-season with the Toronto core before committing?

With another two-assist night, Marner has five multi-point attempts during this six-game stretch without Matthews.

Sam McKee drops the almost perfect Twitter poll split: