Mitch Marner
David Kirouac-Imagn Images
It was three years ago — after yet another first-round playoff exit in yet another Game 7 — when Tampa Bay Lightning coach Jon Cooper was asked whether he thought the Toronto Maple Leafs needed to break up their core four to get over the hump and win a Stanley Cup.
Cooper responded with an answer that seemed more like a warning shot.
“I’ve been behind the bench with Mitch Marner. I’ve been behind the bench with Auston Matthews,” he said. “And if those guys became available, I would be first in line to put them on my team.”
Now, we see why.
Cooper, the bench boss of Team Canada, does not have Matthews on his team. But he does have Marner, who scored the overtime goal in a 4-3 win against Sweden at the 4 Nations Face-Off.
Taking a drop pass that travelled almost the length of the neutral zone from Sidney Crosby, Marner sprinted into the offensive zone and ripped an absolute dart past Sweden’s Filip Gustavsson at 6:06 in the 3-on-3 overtime.
It was a moment Marner said he dreamed about. It was also the kind of clutch performance that Leafs fans have been waiting for him to deliver for years.
After all, this is not the Marner we have typically seen in past playoffs for the Maple Leafs.
Marner had one goal in seven games against the Bruins in last year’s first-round exit. Two years ago, he went without an even-strength point in a second-round loss to the Panthers. In total, he’s scored just 11 times in 57 post-season games.
That lack of production when the games matter the most could be part of the reason why the pending UFA is still without a contract extension. It’s doubtful that one OT goal will change that. But if anything, Marner provided a reminder of what he is capable of when the stakes are raised and his team needs him the most.
Who knows, maybe this goal — and this experience of coming up big in a best-on-best tournament — can be a springboard for Marner and the Leafs. Maybe we’ll see a different version of him when the playoffs begin. Maybe he is (gasp!) clutch.
“It’s actually over. Marner is clutch now. Clear out Bay St.,” @marlanderthews posted on X.
“Marner scoring the game-winning goal for Canada probably has so many Leaf fans so angry lol,” posted The Hockey News’ OHL site editor, Jared Brown.
“Mitch Marner, the guy who disappears in big games?” posted @MikeBeauvais.
“Marner is not a big game guy”“Marner can’t live up to the moment”“Marner disappears in big moments”
Oops.
— Goug Dilmour (@CanadasLeafs) February 13, 2025
When asked what scoring a goal of that magnitude can do for Marner, who is ranked among the top five in the NHL with 71 points in 54 games this season, Cooper seemed confused by the question.
“I don’t know. If you’re saying that, like, is that a confidence-building goal? That kid oozes confidence,” Cooper told reporters. “So I thought it was a big-time player making a big-time play at a big-time moment, and that’s why guys like him are on this team. He was fabulous.”
The only question is whether he can be just as fabulous in the spring when the stakes will be raised even higher.
Related: Sidney Crosby: ‘He Will Go Down As The Greatest Player To Ever Represent His Country’
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