Mitch Marner sounds off on being benched

The Toronto Maple Leafs caught a bad case of sunburn in the California sun during their three-game Western road swing that saw them fail to win once, instead posting an 0-1-2 record in their matchups against the lowly San Jose Sharks and Anaheim Ducks as well as the Los Angeles Kings. 

During last night's game at Honda Center, forward Mitch Marner committed a pair of costly turnovers, directly resulting in two goals for the Ducks. The response from head coach Sheldon Keefe certainly had Leafs fans and pundits everywhere talking, as he was glued to the bench for a portion of the 3rd period. 

“You just gotta know what’s going on in the game,” Keefe said of the Marner turnovers. “Everybody has to be responsible for their touch of the puck … Both were well-intentioned and everything like that — it’s just, they’re tough plays. We gotta manage those plays better. But we also have to have better support around (the puck) so if things go bad we’re in good spots.”

And to his credit, Marner knows that those errors can't happen on a team that has championship aspirations. 

“I put a lot on my shoulders, put a lot of pressure on myself and I wasn’t happy with that second turnover especially,” Marner said. “I want to make sure I’m doing better than that and helping this team win better than that.”

Of course, Marner was also seen taking his frustration out on his stick after the turnover.

 "Sometimes you got to take some frustration out, I’m a passionate player," Marner said. 

The Leafs forward had a glorious chance to win the game for his team in overtime, only to have his backhand-forehand deke attempt robbed by Ducks goaltender John Gibson.