HIGHLIGHTS
- Mitch Marner scored a between-the-legs breakaway goal in Game 6
- William Karlsson sprung him with a perfect stretch pass
- Watch the video below
Mitch Marner just scored the goal of the playoffs.
The Vegas Golden Knights forward beat Anaheim goalie Lukas Dostal between the legs on a breakaway 1:02 into Game 6 against the Ducks at Honda Center. It put Vegas up 1-0 in an elimination game and broke the internet on the way down.
Watch the goal below:
That is one of the filthiest finishes you’ll see in a playoff game. William Karlsson sent the stretch pass tape-to-tape from his own zone. Marner picked it up at the blue line, blew past Jackson LaCombe, outwaited Dostal, and tucked it between his own skates and into the net.
We had to watch it three times before we could even process what happened. The slow-mo replay is somehow even nastier:
It was Marner’s fifth goal of the series and seventh of the playoffs. He also had a hat trick in Game 3 of this same series. Whatever was holding him back in his last NHL chapter has clearly been left behind.
So much for the “Mitch Marner can’t show up in the playoffs” narrative. Try 17 points in 12 playoff games. A hat trick. A breakaway between-the-legs goal in an elimination game. He has more playoff goals already this run than he had in five different Toronto postseasons.
The takes online from Leafs fans are equal parts pride and pain. Happy for the guy, gutted that none of this ever showed up in blue and white. It’s a uniquely Toronto kind of heartbreak.
People are also pointing out that Marner only seems to unlock playoff mode when “Knights” is in the team name. London Knights of the OHL. Vegas Golden Knights now. Maybe it’s the color gold. Maybe it’s the swords.
Whatever it is, you can start whispering Conn Smythe. Marner is leading the league in playoff scoring. Vegas is one win away from the Western Conference Final. If the Golden Knights keep going, this kid is going to have a trophy named after Conn Smythe and a piece of Toronto’s soul in his trophy case by June.
Most Leafs outcome possible.
The technical breakdown on the goal is what makes it special. Full speed, defender draped on his back, no time to set up. He moves the puck forehand-backhand-forehand-backhand-between the legs and finishes with the forehand. That’s a sequence most players couldn’t do in a shootout, let alone on a live breakaway in an elimination game.
Vegas jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period, with Marner setting up Brett Howden on a shorthanded goal at 8:30 to make it back-to-back franchise highlights inside of nine minutes.
Sometimes you see a play that reminds you why you fell in love with hockey in the first place. This was one of those.
