Mitch Marner's Reaction to Auston Matthews After Scoring OT Winner Raises Eyebrows: Rift Forming?
Mitch Marner played overtime hero for the Leafs last night against the Bruins, and many quickly noticed he didn't give Auston Matthews attention afterward.
Mitch Marner was so exhausted after the Toronto Maple Leafs forced him to play overtime that he said he did not even remember who scored the goal to tie the game with 46 seconds left.
Having been held pointless in back-to-back wins over Carolina and Chicago, he was about to have a season-long three-game skid before his third-period power-play gem saved Toronto from a 3-0 hole against Boston.
Racing for Team Canada in the 4 Nations Face-Off against most of the league's best had finally caught up with him. "It was tough, for sure," Marner admitted.
His ice time was restricted over the weekend, but last night he played a backbreaking 25:41 of ice time, the most of any Bruin or Leaf forward.
He was everywhere on the ice: both the special teams, a crazy 97-second stretch with the goalie out, and then a 78-second 3-on-3 sequence before finally jumping back on to seal it himself.
Auston Matthews hasn't scored in 10 straight games
Despite Auston Matthews' ongoing goal drought, as he hasn't scored on a goalie in 10 straight games, including at the 4 Nations, he did set up Marner's winner. But in a curious moment, Marner didn't even look his way to celebrate.
Instead, he skated right for goalie Anthony Stolarz, who came in and stood firm in overtime with some miraculous saves to give the Leafs a chance.
Is a possible rift brewing between Marner and Matthews? Fans and teammates sure hope not, as they need all hands on deck for a deep playoff run.
| G | A | PTS | ||
| Mason Appleton | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Cole Perfetti | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Nikolaj Ehlers | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Nino Niederreiter | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Mark Scheifele | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Mike Amadio | - | - | - | |
| Drake Batherson | - | - | - | |
| Thomas Chabot | - | - | - | |
| Kyle Connor | - | - | - | |
| Angus Crookshank | - | - | - | |
| Dylan DeMelo | - | - | - | |
| Adam Gaudette | - | - | - | |
| Claude Giroux | - | - | - | |
| Noah Gregor | - | - | - | |
| Ridly Greig | - | - | - | |
| David Gustafsson | - | - | - | |
| Travis Hamonic | - | - | - | |
| Connor Hellebuyck | - | - | - | |
| Matthew Highmore | - | - | - | |
| Alex Iafallo | - | - | - | |
| Complete stats | ||||
| STANDINGS 2024-2025 | ||||||
TOP 10 | GP | W | L | OL | PTS | |
Jets | 58 | 41 | 14 | 3 | 85 | |
Capitals | 58 | 38 | 12 | 8 | 84 | |
Stars | 58 | 37 | 19 | 2 | 76 | |
Maple Leafs | 58 | 36 | 20 | 2 | 74 | |
Golden Knights | 58 | 34 | 18 | 6 | 74 | |
Panthers | 59 | 35 | 21 | 3 | 73 | |
Oilers | 58 | 34 | 20 | 4 | 72 | |
Wild | 58 | 34 | 20 | 4 | 72 | |
Lightning | 57 | 33 | 20 | 4 | 70 | |
Hurricanes | 58 | 33 | 21 | 4 | 70 | |
| Conference | Cumulative | ||||||