{"id":463914,"date":"2026-02-19T22:20:45","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T22:20:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/463914\/"},"modified":"2026-02-19T22:20:45","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T22:20:45","slug":"marners-olympic-ot-winner-has-maple-leafs-fans-torn-the-hockey-writers-toronto-maple-leafs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/463914\/","title":{"rendered":"Marner\u2019s Olympic OT Winner Has Maple Leafs Fans Torn – The Hockey Writers – Toronto Maple Leafs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Toronto Maple Leafs fans are riding an emotional rollercoaster after Mitch Marner<\/a>\u2019s dramatic overtime winner for Team Canada at the 2026 Winter Olympics. The former Toronto star, now with the Vegas Golden Knights, buried a backhand far-post goal just 1:22 into 3-on-3 overtime to lift Canada past Czechia 4-3 in the quarterfinal in Milan-Cortina on Feb. 18. Normally, that would be great. Not so much when you\u2019re hated by most of Leafs Nation.<\/p>\n

During his tenure in Toronto, Marner took flak for being a player who didn\u2019t show up in big games and wasn\u2019t \u201cclutch\u201d. Now, in two straight international tournaments \u2014 the 4 Nations Faceoff and the Olympics \u2014 he\u2019s come up with two of the biggest plays of his hockey career. For Marner, it was a statement. For Leafs fans, it was a reminder of what they gave up.<\/p>\n

Marner Delivers on the Olympic Stage<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, Marner stepped up<\/a> and became the game-breaker Canada needed. His goal and Nick Suzuki<\/a>\u2018s tying marker are the reasons Canada has life and can still win gold. He helped avoid a shocking early exit and sent Team Canada to the semifinals in dramatic fashion. The goal \u2014 a silky backhand tucked far side \u2014 instantly went viral, replayed across highlight shows and social feeds.<\/p>\n

Every replay was like digging the knife into the open wound that was the Marner trade this past offseason.<\/p>\n

\"MitchMitch Marner, Vegas Golden Knights (Nick Turchiaro-Imagn Images)<\/p>\n

For critics who long questioned his \u201cgame-changer\u201d status during his tenure with the Maple Leafs, this was ammunition in the opposite direction. Marner has now stacked together consecutive strong international showings, proving this kind of production isn\u2019t a fluke.<\/p>\n

Maple Leafs Fans Can\u2019t Just Be Happy for Canada<\/p>\n

The hosts of TSN OverDrive argued<\/a> that Leafs fans are so obsessed with their own team that many can\u2019t see the good in Team Canada advancing. Bryan Hayes said Leafs fans are guilty of hammering home the storylines. Jeff O\u2019Neill noted that even the players on Team Canada poked fun at the narrative that everyone said \u2018Marner couldn\u2019t get it done and wasn\u2019t a big-game player.\u2019<\/p>\n

Related: Canadiens and Maple Leafs Could Emerge as Trade Partners<\/a><\/p>\n

Some fans celebrated Marner\u2019s success. Most didn\u2019t. Some took it personally, complaining that Marner didn\u2019t do that when he was with Toronto. Others took a shot at the city, saying it puts too much pressure on players to perform at their best. Marner\u2019s Olympic teammate Mark Stone quipped postgame, \u201cI think it\u2019s a Toronto thing.\u201d Talk about a not-so-subtle jab at the intense media and fan environment.<\/p>\n

Either way, one of the biggest goals for Team Canada became, once again, about the Toronto Maple Leafs. <\/p>\n

Conflicted Feelings and \u201cWhat Ifs\u201d<\/p>\n

Marner spent nine seasons in Toronto, and he was a good player. Regardless of what some fans want to say, his legacy with the Maple Leafs is that he\u2019s not nearly as toxic or high-maintenance as many would suggest. Marner is proving he has that extra gear that some thought was non-existent and that they learned to despise him for.<\/p>\n

Watching him score a clutch Olympic dagger brings up what-if questions.<\/p>\n

Comments like, \u201cBet you wish you didn\u2019t trade this guy now,\u201d and debates over whether Toronto should have reshaped its core differently were everywhere. Given how poorly the Leafs\u2019 season has gone, this reaction is understandable. <\/p>\n

What\u2019s left now is a need for Leafs fans to balance national pride with franchise heartbreak. They\u2019ll have to find a way to be happy for Team Canada and Marner, while dealing with the fact that their franchise might have let a dynamic game-changer get away.<\/p>\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Toronto Maple Leafs fans are riding an emotional rollercoaster after Mitch Marner\u2019s dramatic overtime winner for Team Canada…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":463915,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5106],"tags":[3189,5,20,5172,533,4,66,31,5171],"class_list":{"0":"post-463914","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-toronto-maple-leafs","8":"tag-2026-winter-olympics","9":"tag-hockey","10":"tag-maple-leafs","11":"tag-mapleleafs","12":"tag-mitch-marner","13":"tag-nhl","14":"tag-toronto","15":"tag-toronto-maple-leafs","16":"tag-torontomapleleafs"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116099633023753227","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463914","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=463914"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463914\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/463915"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=463914"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=463914"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=463914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}