Marner rejects idea of playing his final home game with Leafs after Game 5 loss

Wednesday night’s sorrows are unfortunately all too familiar for Torontonians in May.

After dropping two on the road, the Toronto Maple Leafs returned home for Game 5 with the hopes of using the energy from the crowd to fuel them in regaining the series lead once again. That hope quickly dissipated as the Florida Panthers put up goal after goal after goal in front of a stunned Toronto crowd, finishing with a blowout 6-1 win.

Just a week ago, up 2-0 in the series, the promise of a new, ‘Craig Berube’ style of hockey was being delivered. Now, the Leafs travel to Florida faced with the prospect of elimination after two poor games, following an overtime loss in Game 3. But despite being shutout in Game 4, Mitch Marner said Wednesday’s loss was the first where he felt they were off.

“I thought tonight was really the first night that we didn’t reply well or play our game,” Marner said. “When you do that against a team like that they’re gonna make you pay and that’s what they did.”

That’s certainly one way to put it, as Toronto played one of its worst games of the year, as Marner offered a few reasons why the Maple Leafs were routed by the Panthers in Game 5.

“Some sloppy play, not hard enough working, giving away too many opportunities around our net, there’s a good list of it,” he said. “I don’t think anyone’s happy about it. Time to reset, time to refocus, get ready for our flight tomorrow, go into Florida and play a hockey game.”

Leafs fans are watching the Core Four fail to rise to the occasion when the going gets tough, once again. A late greasy goal in Game 5 from Nick Robertson was enough to prevent being blanked back-to-back, but that’s two consecutive games now without a single contribution from Toronto’s star forwards. You’d hope for a little