Mitch Marner is looking like he will be Maple Leafs scapegoat

After their rather uninspiring 3-1 loss to the Boston Bruins on Saturday night, the Toronto Maple Leafs are facing a 3-1 series deficit and facing elimination going into Game 5 in Boston on Tuesday night. 

Unless the Maple Leafs can find a way to win three straight games against a Boston team that has had their number all season, they are facing the possibility of another early playoff exit that should, and likely will, result in major changes this offseason.

It seems pretty clear the fall guy this time around will be star winger Mitch Marner. 

Marner has had a brutal series through the first four games, scoring just one goal (a third period goal that ended up being meaningless on Saturday) and looking like a fraction of the player he was at times during the regular season. 

All of the Maple Leafs core players (Marner, Auston Matthews, William Nylander and John Tavares) have faced criticism over the years for their playoff shortcomings, but Marner always tends to get most of the negative attention. 

That has only multiplied this season.

TNT analyst Paul Bissonnette went scorched earth on Marner's play during the second intermission of Saturday's game, while the broadcast cameras caught a very heated exchange between Matthews, Marner and Nylander on the bench during the second period, ending with Marner throwing his gloves and looking extremely frustrated.