"I Like It, I Thought We Played Well': Maple Leafs' Mitch Marner Pleased With Effort Level Despite Shutout Loss To Canucks

The Toronto Maple Leafs dropped their second consecutive game on Saturday, falling to the struggling Vancouver Canucks 3-0 at Scotiabank Arena.

A lack of shot attempts and a disconnected offense were much to blame for the Leafs' inability to find the back of the net.

But as far as the effort level in the game, Maple Leafs' forward was fine with it.

"I liked it. I thought we played well, I really did. Just last couple games we’ve been giving plays to teams that aren’t missing on them," Marner explained. "I thought we were good five-man tight in their zone. I thought we went through the neutral zone as a unit. I think when we didn’t do that that’s when breakdowns happen and they had a lot of offence off it and that’s something that we talked about that we need to be better at and we’ll look at it going forward and fix it."

According to NaturalStatTrick.com, the Leafs finished the game with 47 percent of the expected goals in the game at a score-adjusted 5-on-5 rate. Toronto didn't have a lot of shot attempts in the game with defensive defenseman Philippe Myers leading all Maple Leafs players with seven of them. Not what you expected from the potent weapons the club has, like Marner.

"As a group, we've been talking about trying to shoot more. I think our attempts earlier in the year were higher than they are right now," Maple Leafs defenseman Morgan Rielly admitted. "We want to get back to having a shooting mentality. We talked about that. So I don't know. We'll watch the game and we'll see. But ultimately, our goal is to get back to having a shooting mentality."

The Leafs were 0-for-3 on the power play and that certainly didn't help their cause. It was Vancouver's first regulation victory since Dec. 23.

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