Mitch Marner makes no excuses for the Leafs' poor execution in Vegas, applauds the effort of only one teammate
The Leafs simply didn't have it on Monday. Right from the opening faceoff, the Leafs were unprepared and that fact was completely exposed by a hungry Vegas Golden Knights squad who played with pace and intensity in front of the hometown fans.
Even the Leafs' star players knew they didn't compete on Monday night, as William Nylander and Mitch Marner echoed a lot of the sentiments of their head coach, Sheldon Keefe, who acknowledged that the team got beat cleanly "in all facets" of the game.
There was one player for the Leafs, however, who Marner emphasized had a really strong game. There should be no surprise that he was talking about goaltender Ilya Samsonov, who kept the Leafs in a game that likely should have been a blowout loss.
-Marner on Samsonov's play against the Golden Knights
Samsonov made 30 saves on 33 shots, including a few saves that he had no business making, which should have fueled his teammates and gave them some momentum to try to capitalize on. Instead, the team completely dropped the ball and hung Samsonov out to dry.
The 25-year-old netminder deserved much better fate and certainly played well enough in his own right to earn the win for the Leafs. However, his win streak ends at 4 games to start the season and his stat line dips to 4-1-0, with a 2.01 GAA and a .932 SV% - still a sensational start.
| POLL | ||
OCTOBRE 25 | 334 ANSWERS Mitch Marner makes no excuses for the Leafs' poor execution in Vegas, applauds the effort of only one teammate If the Leafs come out of California with a losing record, does Kyle Dubas make a trade? | ||
| Yes | 222 | 66.5 % |
| No | 112 | 33.5 % |
| List of polls | ||
