After their reasonably uninspiring 3-1 loss to the Boston Bruins on Saturday night time, the Toronto Maple Leafs are going through a 3-1 collection deficit and going through elimination going into Sport 5 in Boston on Tuesday night time.
Until the Maple Leafs can discover a approach to win three straight video games towards a Boston group that has had their quantity all season, they’re going through the potential of one other early playoff exit that ought to, and certain will, lead to main modifications this offseason.
It appears fairly clear the autumn man this time round will probably be star winger Mitch Marner.
Marner has had a brutal collection by way of the primary 4 video games, scoring only one objective (a 3rd interval objective that ended up being meaningless on Saturday) and looking out like a fraction of the participant he was at instances throughout the common season.
All the Maple Leafs core gamers (Marner, Auston Matthews, William Nylander and John Tavares) have confronted criticism through the years for his or her playoff shortcomings, however Marner at all times tends to get many of the damaging consideration.
That has solely multiplied this season.
TNT analyst Paul Bissonnette went scorched earth on Marner’s play throughout the second intermission of Saturday’s sport, whereas the printed cameras caught a really heated trade between Matthews, Marner and Nylander on the bench throughout the second interval, ending with Marner throwing his gloves and looking out extraordinarily annoyed.
