Mitch Marner saves ‘his best game’ for Golden Knights’ clinching Game 6

Mitch Marner didn’t join the Vegas Golden Knights to win one round in the playoffs. Or two — or even three — for that matter.

It’s a good start, though.

Marner left his fingerprints at different times throughout the Knights’ six-game series win over the Utah Mammoth in the first round. Little plays here, assists there, all to the tune of seven points in six games.

He saved his best effort for last Friday at Delta Center with two goals and an assist to pace the Knights in the 5-1 win, including the game-winning goal off a near-three-minute shift.

“It was his best game of the series,” coach John Tortorella said. “He just looked comfortable.”

This is the kind of game the Knights were hoping for when they landed Marner in the eight-year, $96 million sign-and-trade with the Toronto Maple Leafs on July 1.

With Marner came the perception that he wasn’t a big-time playoff performer. How he hadn’t scored a goal in Games 5-7 of a playoff series since 2019 prior to Friday. How he, unfairly or not, was the center of the blame for the Toronto Maple Leafs’ playoff shortcomings.

Marner responded with big plays in the most crucial of moments when the series was in the balance. He had the primary assist on Brett Howden’s double-overtime short-handed goal, and the primary helper on Howden’s short-handed tally in Game 4.

The goal scoring finally arrived in Game 6, scoring twice and having the primary helper on Howden’s fourth goal in three games in the first period.

“It is what I hoped for, for sure,” Marner said. “An opportunity to do something special.”

Marner’s playoff run to this point has been much like his first season in Las Vegas — staying mostly quiet until proven necessary.

That’s, at least, upon first glance when outside voices look at Marner’s 80 points in 81 games with the Knights and call it a disappointment.

They expected the 102-point player from the year prior. They expected him to be a driver for a team that should’ve done better than the 95 points it finished with.

There’s been more to it than just the scoring.

“Mitchy’s been doing a lot of little things people don’t understand, some small little plays,” Tortorella said. “He had some big plays that everybody can see. Really good for him for his confidence going into the next series.”

The reality for Marner is the microscope doesn’t move from him after one round, no matter how good he was.

The investment the Knights made on him was to play hockey deep into May and June. Time will tell, starting in the second round against the Anaheim Ducks, if Game 6 was the springboard for something bigger.

If that involves an increase in goal scoring, even better.

“Just trust yourself more to shoot more,” Marner said. “Find yourself in areas that you’ve got a little more confidence to maybe score.”

Marner wasn’t shy with his shot. His 15 shots were tied for second-most on the Knights in the series. The Knights had a 10-3 edge in shots and a 2-0 edge in goals when Marner was on the ice in Game 6, according to Natural Stat Trick.

“He was great. I think it was probably his best,” forward Colton Sissons said. “He scored some nice goals for us, but he was impactful every time he was on the ice.”

It wasn’t just Marner getting it done. All four lines made an impact in the series with depth scoring up and down the lineup.

As the rounds progress, it’s going to be on the big-name players to rise to the occasion, Marner especially.

“Like I said when I first got here, I knew it was a special group,” he said. “This is what I hoped for, Now there’s a lot more work to keep going.”