Mitch Marner didn’t have to be at his best to spoil the Leafs’ party

“It’s a passionate fan base here,” Marner said after the game. “They love their team. It was interesting all night. I really appreciated the love and support during the tribute video. I still have a lot of love for these fans.”

And while the majority of fans don’t love him back, Marner was better received than many expected. This is perhaps what comes with the territory of having a fan base large enough to provide sufficient polarity, rather than unanimity. It was an emotionally charged game, but after the Golden Knights raced to a 2-0 lead, the raucous crowd at Scotiabank Arena fell almost silent.

Perhaps most frustrating for the Maple Leafs faithful was that Marner didn’t actually have to do anything at all. Other than setting up Tomas Hertl for one high-risk chance outside the striker, he operated primarily as a facilitator as Dorofeyev, Mark Stone, Jack Eichel and several other Golden Knights carried the team to victory. Marner finished with the third-worst expected goal share at 5-on-5 for the Golden Knights, and it’s a footnote to the most anticipated regular season game of the 2025-26 NHL calendar.

“I don’t need to talk about it anymore,” Marner said after the game. “I’m sure those guys are also relieved that they don’t have to talk about it.”

Marner does have a point. Clearly, the Leafs became irritated with the amount of questions about Marner starting from the Jan. 15 meeting in Vegas. It’s also a bit of a moot point: When the sixth-leading scorer in franchise history returns to the hockey capital of the world, it’s a matter of public interest.

It would be far too easy to use Friday’s result as further justification that Marner made the right career choice. Vegas won the Stanley Cup in 2023 and will be a leading contender again this season. An example of one game would not change this distinction anyway. But it was more than just another battle in an 82-match campaign; this clearly meant a lot to Marner, the Leafs’ fanbase and the city of Toronto in general.

Marner might feel vindicated since the Maple Leafs were absent for much of the game. Anthony Stolarz returned from a two-month absence and exerted poor rebound control throughout the game. The speedy defense also failed Stolarz throughout the match, the entries were predictable and lacked structure, and the Golden Knights quietly took advantage of several Leafs mistakes throughout the evening.

In a game scheduled around Marner’s return home, he made no dent in the ice process. In the end, it didn’t even matter, and that may be the real unhappiness surrounding Friday’s game. Anyway, Marner is now out of sight and out of mind for the foreseeable future, but one night he was a passenger again at Scotiabank Arena and it had no bearing on the match whatsoever.

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