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Mitch Marner explains critical errors from Game 5 loss: ‘That’s obviously a big mistake’

Originally posted on TheLeafsnation | By Arun Srinivasan | Last updated May 16, 2025 2:45 PM ET

Toronto Maple Leafs forward Mitch Marner is trying to block out the discourse ahead of the most critical game of his career, and took some accountability for his error-filled Game 5.

Marner submitted the worst performance of his nine-year tenure in a 6-1 loss to the Florida Panthers, where he made a series of major errors throughout the game, and recorded just one shot.

The most egregious example occurred during the second period where Marner was exiting his defensive zone cleanly, stopped, and then tossed a backhand spin-o-rama pass through the middle of the ice. Panthers defenceman Gustav Forsling intercepted the pass, one-touched it to Sam Reinhart, and during the ensuing break, Marner didn’t pick up a crashing Jesper Boqvist, who tapped the puck home for a 3-0 lead.

Boqvist makes it 3-0

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Marner explained his thinking on the play which led to the unforced giveaway.

“Just trying to make a play. Couldn’t really get it off the wall, tried to hit the far guy,” Marner said Friday. “And the 3-on-2 back, I was trying to cheat the pass up top and didn’t take him to the post. That’s obviously a big mistake. Live to forget, you’re human. Make sure you clear the mind of that and know you can do better.”

Toronto is on the brink of elimination and it’s incumbent upon Marner and Auston Matthews to raise their levels in a closeout game. Marner and Matthews will remain atop Toronto’s first line, alongside 22-year-old Matthew Knies, who has been the best player of the Leafs’ first-line trio during the series.

“It’s tough, it is tough in a way,” Marner said about the balance of trying to create plays within the natural flow of a game. “You got to really work for your offence against this team. You have to make sure to make solid, hard plays. You have to try to break them down in their d-zone. There are going to be looks that you get up top, that you try to get through that are going to get blocked. That’s just the nature of the game. That’s the nature of how these games are played too, with how many guys are around the net-front. You just try to keep working for your space, working for your ice. Not trying to force things, but if they’re there, try to make the play you’re comfortable making.”

Florida is arguably the NHL’s best defensive team and routinely suffocates teams during the playoffs. This part is perhaps academic now. Marner and Matthews are looking past Game 5, and are tasked with rising to the occasion in this series to keep the Leafs’ season alive, with an uncertain future ahead.