Auston Matthews faces a wave of coordinated heat as fans suspect a brilliant distraction tactic

Fans immediately took to criticizing Auston Matthews after Mitch Marner's Cup failure, and some are wondering if this is a plot from Marner's camp to deflect.

Mitch Marner failed to win the Stanley Cup though he got as far as he ever has in his career. His invisible performance in Games 5 & 6 brought back terrible memories of years past when Marner was unable to step up when it mattered. While there were certainly some others who you could point to, it's Marner getting all the attention.

It makes sense considering how much chatter there was around a potential win and what that could mean in terms of learning what happened in Toronto, and no doubt the Marner camp is going to have to deal with a lot more backlash considering yet again - he could not get it done.

Once Mitch Marner failed yet again, the attention suddenly became about Toronto's failures, not his

But it could be part of their plan to deflect blame off Marner considering that in pretty quick order, fans were pointing out Auston Matthews' faults in the playoffs:

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This is certainly something you may need a tinfoil hat for, but it feels like the attention on Marner immediately got deflected back to Toronto instead of recognizing his own failures, and it's not just one fan trying to stir the pot.

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While Marner deserves credit for his performance throughout the postseason, those fans are forgetting he still didn't show up:

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It's clearly a back and forth between those Leaf fans who are happy that Marner lost and there are some who obviously think Marner was the only reason Toronto had success in the first place.

It's all about deflection and the Marner camp have a wealth of experience in that field

But this is where the tinfoil hat comes into play. We know that Vegas is notoriously arrogant when it comes to the media, as they didn't let Marner talk to the reporters after losing, and they were already punished for refusing to talk to the media earlier in the postseason.

So what if instead they were directing people to take the heat off Marner? It really only seems to be Maple Leafs detractors who are constantly badgering Matthews and the others for failing, while Maple Leafs fans admit that everyone - including Marner - was at fault.

It was never Marner's fault in Toronto though right? It was always the coaches, the fans, his teammates; it was never on Mitch. He's never one to take accountability and we were just proven so considering he went radio silent the second he lost. I guess those dark times weren't so dark times weren't so dark if they were reliant on Marner winning.

Even during Marner's introduction in Vegas, it was his camp taking control of things and making sure he looked in the best possible light. There's an obvious 'one for all' not 'all for one' mentality coming from Marner's side, and it would show a lot of growth and development as a person if he had taken a couple minutes to admit defeat.

Instead, Marner ducked for cover and ran for the hills. It's why the blame is so heavily directed against Matthews, the Maple Leafs, and everyone who isn't #93 because he can't take the heat, so he got the heck out of the kitchen despite being one of the head chefs.

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