Mitch Marner stands up for himself after being taken out of the play, delivers hard slash on Wild forward

Well, as it turns out, the Leafs have been a lot more physical this year, laying the body with a much higher frequency and also showing that they're not afraid to muck it up during the post-whistle scrums.

During the 2nd period of this morning's game against the Minnesota Wild, even Mitch Marner was getting his hands dirty, sending a clear message to Joel Eriksson Ek after Eriksson Ek had taken him out of the play, pushing him down to the ice and putting all of his body weight on the much smaller Marner. In response, Marner got up and gave Eriksson Ek a pretty good slash behind the knee.

Eriksson Ek remained down for a few moments, labouring as a result of the slash, and Marner was issued a 2-minute minor for slashing on the play, but the Leafs were able to kill the penalty to remain ahead 2-1.

I know that the penalty was an ill-advised one, but it's not a penalty I mind from a guy like Marner, who is very much a finesse player. With Marner standing up for himself the way he did, it's a pretty good indication that the team is getting the message from GM Brad Treliving and head coach Sheldon Keefe that standing up for yourself and your teammates is very important.