Mitch Marner and the Toronto Maple Leafs have pushed through boundaries during this regular season and reached new heights. The team is coming off a perfect 4-0 victory over the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday. This win confirmed the team’s first Atlantic Division title. Also, it’s Toronto’s third divisional title since 1967, the last time they held the Stanley Cup.
The Leafs are in amazing spirits going into the playoffs. The team has been playing extremely well in the last little while, and players are executing at high levels. Since March 16, the Maple Leafs have been the joint-best team in the NHL with the St. Louis Blues. In the last 15 games, Toronto is 12-2-1 with 10 of those wins in regulation. Furthermore, they have conceded the least number of goals in the league in that span.
While the team has been great, many players have been stepping up. John Tavares, Anthony Stolarz, and Matthew Knies are just a few players, but Marner is the x-factor.
Marner’s Time To Lead
Every postseason, when the Leafs don’t perform, a lot of the blame is put on Marner’s shoulders. The rest of the roster is just as responsible for the team’s defeats, but he gets it the worst. Securing his first-ever 100-point campaign is a testament to how good he’s been for Toronto this season. Furthermore, he’s been the team’s MVP along with the goaltenders. With his 27th goal on Tuesday, he became the fourth player in Leafs history to reach 100 points in a season. Auston Matthews, Doug Gilmour, and Darryl Sittler have hit that feat twice each.
Marner will look to take his historic season into the postseason and lead his team to a deep playoff run. Not only is it important to his team that he steps up, but also contractually. The 27-year-old remains without a new contract for next season and is running out of time. There is an understanding between him and general manager Brad Treliving that he wants to wait out the season before making any decisions. However, that may backfire if he has a poor playoffs. The Leafs want to sign the superstar, but if they get eliminated in the first round again, there will be no reason to bring everyone back.
His Playoff History
Toronto has qualified for the playoffs for eight straight years before this season. However, they’ve only advanced to the second round once. Even then, they were eliminated in five games by the Florida Panthers. In that time, Marner has been the Leafs’ leading scorer in the playoffs. Among active Maple Leafs, Marner is at the top with 50 points in 57 playoff contests. On the all-time list, he’ll be projected to reach Toronto’s top 10 scorers in this upcoming series against the Ottawa Senators.
Last season was poor for Marner’s standard. In their first-round series against the Boston Bruins, he recorded three points in seven games. However, in the playoff campaign before that, he was excellent. In 11 games, he scored three goals and recorded a team-high 14 points for Toronto. The team will hope to have Marner in a similar form to that.
With one more regular-season game to go, Marner is on a four-game point streak. In that span, he’s scored three goals and three helpers for six points. Furthermore, in his last 12 games, he’s put up 17 points with six of them goals. The Leafs’ leading scorer is fifth in the NHL for points with exactly 100. All his success in this regular season points to him having a standout playoff. However, history hasn’t been kind to the Maple Leafs or their top players. Only time will tell for this team as the playoffs begin on Saturday and Sunday. Toronto’s last regular-season outing will be against the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday.
Main Photo Credit: Timothy T. Ludwig-Imagn Images
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