After finishing without a point for the fourth straight game over the weekend in Ottawa, Mitch Marner returned home looking to unplug from hockey. All the pressure of his lacklustre start to the season had built up and the 20-year-old just wanted to relax. He turned on Seth MacFarlane’s new show The Orville and unwound, later chatting with his parents about anything other than hockey.
Then he returned to the ice on Monday night and had maybe his most inspired performance of the season.
“I think I was just putting too much pressure on myself and not really playing the way that I wanted to and I think a lot of people saw that in the game,” Marner said after dishing out two assists in a 3-2 win over the Kings.