Mitch Marner credits Maple Leafs staying patient with their game as key to Game 6 win

Toronto Maple Leafs forward Mitch Marner felt his team did a great job of sticking with the process as one of the keys to their Game 6 win over the Florida Panthers on Friday.

While it was far from his best performance, Marner was certainly a lot better than his showing in Game 5 as he helped set up Auston Matthews’ game-winning goal. He did well in helping kill off the four Panthers’ power plays while also setting up quality looks for his linemates. Suffice it to say that head coach Craig Berube’s bet on sticking the two superstars together paid off.

Marner said to reporters after the game that he and his teammates were focused on the task at hand, which helped them prepare for the must-win game.

“ Like we’ve talked about all year, we don’t care. We just go out there and we wanna do our thing,” Marner said. “What we love about this team is there’s a lot of trust in that locker room with one another.  It was a great morning skate, and it carried into the game. We knew it wasn’t gonna be easy, we knew we weren’t gonna get many looks.  The thing we just loved about it was staying patient with our game, a couple of big kills to start off, too. Just stuck with it and got the result.”

While his improved performance certainly helped get his team a better chance at securing the win, it was the strong play of Joseph Woll that was the primary factor in why the Leafs took Game 6. He rebounded in a big way after a disastrous start in Game 5, where he allowed five unanswered goals and was pulled, by responding with a 22-save shutout.

Marner was certainly impressed with what he saw out of his netminder in a must-win game.

“ Unreal. Made a couple of big saves when we needed them,” Marner said. “ Our D and forwards getting in the lanes when we need ’em to as well, and just the buy-in from everyone.  We knew it was gonna be easy tonight, we know that team’s extremely hard to beat and they don’t give you much.  So when we needed Joe, he was there for big time tonight and that’s what he has done for us all year.”

As a result of their strong effort in Sunrise, the Leafs have now forced a winner-take-all game for the seventh time in the Core Four era. It has been a thorn in the side of this group of players and the franchise as a whole, with their last such win coming back in 2004 against the Ottawa Senators..

“It’s what you wanna play for,” Marner said. “Especially when you’re going down 3-2 into an away building, you wanna bring your best and I thought we did.  The job’s only gonna get harder, so can’t be satisfied.  Gotta take care of yourself, take the rest you need and be ready for a hard game.”