Mitch Marner Makes Heartwarming Equipment Change that Might Just Take Him to New Heights

Mitch Marner became a father last weekend as he and his wife Stephani welcomed a healthy baby boy by the name of Miles Daniel Marner.

Overall, this is a joyous occasion for the Marner family and it comes in the midst of a playoff run where the Maple Leafs have a real shot of going far and maybe even winning the Stanley Cup.

Last night, Marner scored the game-winning goal against the Florida Panthers to give his team a 2-0 lead in the series.

As it turns out, Marner had some motivation with him as he wrote the letter M on his gloves as a reminder of his son, Miles.

The forward noted that he does this to calm himself down during tense moments in a game. Moreover, prior to the birth of his son, he used to write the letter "z" on his gloves, to honor his dog Zeus. Now, he has both Z and M on the gloves.

As many Toronto sports fans remember, Toronto Raptors star Fred VanVleet helped the team win an NBA championship just weeks after his child was born.

Clearly, having a child is a real motivator when it comes to excelling in your sport. Mitch Marner is seeing that first hand.

So far in these playoffs, he has two goals and eight assists for a total of 10 points. Against the Panthers so far through two games, he has notched a goal and an assist.

Only time will tell whether or not this Maple Leafs team can finish the series off and prove once and for all that they really are built for the playoffs.