Was Mitch Marner’s 2nd Period in Game 3 ‘The Best Period in Hockey History’?

It’s like digging the knife in even farther on Maple Leafs fans. How much more of Mitch Marner’s playoff heroics and the celebrations of his postseason mastery this year can his former hometown take?

Marner smashed 100-year-old records while compiling a stunning four-point second period Saturday night that included a natural hat trick. It gave the Vegas Golden Knights a 4-0 lead in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final. The Carolina Hurricanes would stage a miraculous rally in the third period to send the game to overtime before Vegas won it 5-4 in double-OT.

The top insider in the business, Elliotte Friedman, told the crew on NHL Network that Marner’s masterclass second period was quite possibly the best 20-minute performance in the annals of hockey.

You could argue that he had the best period in the history of hockey. Considering the stakes and what he did. First four-point period since 1919. Fastest hat trick in the history of the Stanley Cup Final. I think if you were to (ask) what was the best period in the history of the Stanley Cup Final, you would say Mitch Marner in Game 3.

Marner needed just 6 minutes, 10 seconds to record that natural hat trick, trimming 11 seconds off the previous fastest, by Rocket Richard (you may have heard of him). The legendary Montreal Canadien did it in 6:21 in 1944. Marner’s seven points in the first three games of the Final is second only to Wayne Gretzky’s eight in 1988 over the last century (that name might also ring a bell).

Marner sheds the playoff choker label – BIG time

Leaf fans spent years blaming Marner’s inability to perform in the playoffs as being one of the main reasons Toronto never experienced the postseason success that so many had expected in the Marner/Auston Matthews era for a decade. Now, it’s got to be soul-crushing for those fans to watch the Toronto-born Marner do this with another team in his first year after being run out of town.

“I look at it as those fans are like, ‘Man, I would have loved to have seen that in a Blue & White uniform,” said Friedman.

In nine playoff years with the Leafs, Marner totaled 13 goals and 63 points in 70 postseason games. This spring, in just 19 games with the Golden Knights, he has 10 goals and 28 points. Yes, that leads the Stanley Cup Playoffs in scoring this year, far, far ahead of his teammate Jack Eichel, who has 20 points.

Basically, whatever happens from here on in, if the Golden Knights do get those final two wins to take the Cup, Marner’s name is as good as etched on the Conn Smythe Trophy as the playoff MVP.

That, we would venture to say, is a Leaf fan’s biggest nightmare.