Option 2

Losing in the playoffs is a time honored tradition for Marton. Losing is the finals is becoming a rather annoying and specific version of it. He's heard all the platitudes, but of course it never gets easier. Still, he wouldn't describe it as "pressure," the sort of thing that can get to you before the game even starts. He's never stepped onto the ice during the playoffs, not even during game 7 of the season 77 finals, thinking "what if I lose?" The thought of every moment up until the final horn is "what do I need to do to win?" Maybe that makes the loss a bit more crushing, because even if he had an answer, he wasn't able to make it happen. His mindset has always been about trying to take things into his own, into shouldering that responsibility. It's not power-of-positive-thinking crap like "I can do it!" or "I *will* do it," but it is about believing that the victory is possible and that his actions and choices can lead to that outcome.

There's nothing Marton hates more than losing and feeling like it was entirely out of his hands, like it was all just some random chance that nobody seems to understand and where what you put into it bears far too little relation to what comes out the other end, like the outcome would be 12 different things if you did the exact same setup 12 different times.