Mitch Marner Speaks Out Following Dmitry Kulikov's Dangerous Elbow to the Head

After the conclusion of Game 4, you'd be excused if you thought a hockey game broke out at a fight, as the tensions were heated and led to a lot of violence throughout the night.

We had Evan Rodrigues leveled by Oliver Ekman-Larsson as well as Max Domi shoving Aleksander Barkov into the boards, but it was what kicked it off that might be the worst one.

Mitch Marner received a nasty elbow shot to the head thanks to Dmitry Kulikov, who received no punishment during or after the game.

Fans were outraged, Craig Berube was none too pleased, and we're all just lucky Marner made it out unscathed.

But now the superstar has taken the high road, and while commenting on the hit, explained that it was just in the heat of things:

Trying to do his thing, Marner has 12 points in 10 games (2G, 10A) and been one of Toronto's better defensive forwards, helping to save several potential Panthers goals from happening.

This postseason, and season as a whole, is a very important one for Marner and the Maple Leafs.

A pending free agent at the end of the season, if he doesn't get past the second round and Toronto is bullish on paying him more than Auston Matthews (where there's a legitimate argument to be made), then he's more than likely gone.

A strong performance in Games 5 and 6 will no doubt help Marner gain more in the summer, but if Toronto can withstand Florida and pull off a miracle run to the Cup; it might convince him to stay.

He finally hit the 100-point mark (102P; 27G, 75A) after missing out several times, and this season was his for the taking since game one.

He was the catalyst for Toronto's offense when Auston Matthews was injured, and was critical in Team Canada's win over the US at the 4 Nations; he's shown he can handle the pressure.

Clearly he's not feeling any pressure from the Kulikov hit, either to retaliate or to make a slight towards him. To Marner, it's just hockey.

He's going to have to play his absolute best hockey on Wednesday though, or he might be saying goodbye to Toronto for good.