Marner scored 1:35 into his playoff debut Thursday, an eventual 3-2 overtime loss to Washington.

EDGE Analysis

When you're on the road in the playoffs, it's huge to get an early score and quiet the crowd to blunt the home team's momentum, but Marner's tally (and Jake Gardiner's subsequent goal) didn't slow down the Capitals. Marner sagged to the finish line in the regular season, recording just four points in the final nine games and no multi-point efforts in the last month-plus, but perhaps the four full days off before this series served to refresh him. The Leafs will certainly need more offense from him if they're to upend a clearly superior team in the Capitals.