Marner Disappears (As Usual), Marlies Up 2-0

The majority of  Toronto Maple Leafs fans who watched the Stanley Cup Final were likely the biggest Carolina Hurricanes fans outside of North Carolina. Not because they had any great love for the Canes, but because they were hoping that former Leaf Mitch Marner and the Vegas Golden Knights would lose. The Golden Knights are the most unlikeable franchise in the NHL, and they apparently enjoy being that way.

It was a bitter pill to watch the Maple Leafs self-immolate this season, finish 28th overall, and fire their GM and head coach, but fans in the GTA have had to endure an additional two months of pounding from media and social media sources alike for driving Marner out of town. They were also rubbing their hands with glee that he was leading the NHL in playoff scoring and was the leading candidate for the Conn Smythe Trophy. 

But there was only one problem with this storyline, they forgot that Mitch Marner was…….Mitch Marner. He dazzled in that historic middle frame of Game 3, scoring a natural hat trick on injured former teammate Frederik Andersen, but other than that period, he went without a goal in the four-game Western Conference sweep of Colorado and the other five games against the Canes. His infamous record in Games 5, 6, and 7 of the playoffs (with Toronto, it was 1 goal, 10 assists, and -8 in 26 games) did not hinder him against young, defensively challenged clubs like Utah and Anaheim, but against Carolina, Marner had no points and was -4 in Games 5 and 6. 

It was interesting that we heard Vegas GM Kelly McCrimmon crowing on Toronto radio about the former Leaf and his playoff success before the Final, and from Marner himself, saying that he would talk about the “dark times” he endured while a member of the Leafs after Vegas won the Cup, but after the loss, he took the cowardly way out and did not speak to the media.

All you can really say about Marner is that he is consistent.

In more positive news, the Toronto Marlies, for the second series in a row, have taken a 2-0 lead with a pair of road victories. After taking Game 1 of the Calder Cup Final against Chicago on Friday, the Marlies persevered in a wild 5-4 overtime victory in Game 2 against the Wolves on Sunday afternoon. Toronto surrendered a goal less than two minutes into the game, tied the game on the first of Benoit-Olivier Groulx’s two goals, but gave up a power play goal late in the first. The Marlies rebounded in the middle frame, tying the game on an Alex Nylander penalty shot and taking the lead on team captain Logan Shaw’s eighth of the playoffs.

Former Calgary first-rounder Juuso Valimaki tied the game 3-3 midway through the third, but Groulx restored the lead with his second goal of the game. With the goalie pulled, Valimaki tied the game with 17 seconds left in regulation, but Toronto was unfazed and scored the game-winner 3:46 into overtime, as Shaw jammed the puck past former Leaf Cayden Primeau.

“We’ve been in that spot a lot this year. Not saying that we’ve blown games, but there were times where we had leads and other teams came back. So we’ve been through pretty much everything you can imagine this year, and I think we have a lot of belief and a lot of faith in our group.” Shaw said after the game. “I’ve said it throughout the whole season, but the other team is trying to win a game too…When they scored that goal, it sucked at the time, but I had all the faith in our group for sure.”

The series moves to Toronto for Game 3 on Tuesday.