{"id":653504,"date":"2026-05-20T01:45:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T01:45:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/653504\/"},"modified":"2026-05-20T01:45:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T01:45:14","slug":"conn-smythe-trophy-candidates-at-midway-point-of-playoffs-discussed-by-nhl-com","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/653504\/","title":{"rendered":"Conn Smythe Trophy candidates at midway point of playoffs discussed by NHL.com"},"content":{"rendered":"

The forward\u2019s clutch ability has been key in the postseason, which is narrative-changing after he was often criticized for his lack of production later in playoff rounds when he was with the Toronto Maple Leafs. This year,\u00a0Marner has been arguably Vegas\u2019 best player in the later games of a series. He set the tone for Vegas in Game 6 against Anaheim with one of the prettiest goals you\u2019ll see and set up Brett Howden<\/a> for a short-handed goal, propelling the Golden Knights to a 5-1 series-clinching win. Marner had two goals and an assist in Vegas\u2019s 5-1 series-clinching win against the Utah Mammoth in Game 6 of the first round. He had the assist on Howden\u2019s double-overtime goal in Game 5 against Utah. He leads the postseason with 18 points (seven goals, 11 assists), and it seems Marner is getting better as the Golden Knights keep advancing. — Dan Rosen, senior writer<\/p>\n

Marner is silencing all critics with his performance in the first two rounds of the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Golden Knights forward leads all playoff scorers and scored a goal that will be on highlight-reels for years in the 5-1 win against the Anaheim Ducks in Game 6 of the second round. The Golden Knights needed every ounce of offense\u00a0Marner was able to provide against Anaheim with captain Mark Stone<\/a>\u00a0sustaining a lower-body injury in the first period of Game 3 and missing the final three games of the series. Marner is helping make up for the lost offense in his first season with Vegas. — Derek Van Diest, staff writer<\/p>\n

It isn\u2019t just that\u00a0Marner leads the Stanley Cup Playoffs in scoring by a three-point margin. It\u2019s how he\u2019s doing it. He\u2019s filling whatever role Vegas needs, making his teammates better and coming through in the clutch. Marner has bounced from wing to center at even strength and to different spots on the power play, all while killing penalties. He\u2019s a big reason Howden has eight goals, including three short-handed. In two series-clinching, 5-1 Game 6 wins, Marner had five points (three goals, two assists). This is exactly what Marner and the Golden Knights each envisioned when he came to Vegas in a sign-and-trade June 30 after nine seasons with the Toronto Maple Leafs. — Nicholas J. Cotsonika, columnist<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The forward\u2019s clutch ability has been key in the postseason, which is narrative-changing after he was often criticized…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":653505,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[385,99],"class_list":["post-653504","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653504","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=653504"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653504\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/653505"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=653504"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=653504"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=653504"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}