Mitch Marner has been the Leafs best player in their series against the Bruins and Boston has made it clear that they are trying to figure out how to stop him.
Marner was once again one of the few players to find the scoresheet for the Leafs in their 3-1 loss, but the Bruins still paid him some special attention. With the Matthews line struggling, Marner’s like was out against Brad Marchand’s line and the Bruins pest tried out a new strategy for slowing him down.
Leafs fans weren’t too happy with it.
There was no penalty on the play, but it was a pretty loosely called game. There was actually only one penalty given out all night and it went against the Bruins, so the Leafs can’t complain much there. In fact, it’s actually Bruins’ coach Bruce Cassidy that was complaining about the refs.
In the end, you can’t really say Marchand’s tactic worked because Mitch Marner didn’t retaliate and he was the Leafs most dangerous player all night. On the other hand, while they were focused on Marner, the other Leafs failed to step up and the Bruins are going home up 3-1 because of it.
And you can bet that Marchand will be up to more of his antics in Game 5. As he said himself in a Players’ Tribune article yesterday, he “came out of the womb mischievous.”
