If This Was Mitch Marner’s Final Home Game With The Maple Leafs, What A Way To Go Out

If this ends up being Mitch Marner’s last home game as a Toronto Maple Leaf, what a way to go out.

It’s one thing to lose 6-1 to the Florida Panthers. It’s another to get booed off the ice. Or play so poorly that jerseys are tossed on the ice.

Even worse is when the fans get so tired of watching that they just get up and leave — with more than half the third period remaining.

“It is what it is. I’m not focusing on that,” Marner said of how Leafs' fans reacted in the lopsided loss to the Panthers in what was a pivotal Game 5. “You’re focused on the team and what you can do out there. It wasn’t good enough from our standpoint and that’s what happens.”

For Marner, who is one more loss away from heading into free agency as a UFA, it was a sombre sendoff.

Not that he was thinking that this might have been the last time he plays in front of the home crowd. “No, no thoughts about it at all,” he said.

Indeed, there’s still a chance that the Leafs, who are down 3-2 in the series, will force Game 7 with a win in Florida. There’s also a chance that Marner will sign an extension in the summer to remain in Toronto. But more and more, both are looking unlikely.

If so, he really has no one else to blame but himself.

Marner, like Auston Matthews, was held off the scoresheet for the second consecutive game on Wednesday. In the the second period, it was Marner's defensive-zone giveaway that led to a goal. Marner finished the game minus-2, with one shot on net.

“It wasn’t close to good enough,” he said. “Flush it down the toilet.”

That’s becoming a familiar refrain as the Leafs continue to pull a Jekyll and Hyde routine.

The Leafs outscored the Panthers 13-12 in the first three games of the series. But they have been outscored 8-1 in the past two games. Marner, who had a goal and three assists in the first three games of the series, had zero points in Games 4 and 5.

That somewhat tired narrative of how he doesn’t show up when the stake get high has returned. And it’s gaining merit.

Marner also had no points in the final two games in last year’s first-round loss to the Bruins. He had no points in Game 7 against Florida in 2023. In 2021, he was held off the scoresheet in the final two games against the Canadiens.

See a pattern here?

Yes, Marner was a top-5 scorer with 102 points in the regular season. And yes, he does have 12 points in 11 playoff games this year. But if he cannot produce when the games truly are the most meaningful, then why bother keeping him around?

That’s a question for GM Brad Treliving this summer. Unless, of course, Marner and the other Core 4 can step in Game 6 on Friday and force another game in Toronto.

If so, Marner will have another chance to redeem himself. And to prove to the fans — and to management — that he deserves more games in a Leafs jersey.

“It’s obviously not the spot that we want to be in, but you can’t do anything about it,” said Marner. “We knew it was going to be a roller coaster of a ride. We know it’s not going to be easy. Like I said, we have to have the mindset now to go into Florida and take it shift-by-shift (in Game 6) and win a hockey game.”