A Boston Bruins-Toronto Maple Leafs meeting in the first round of the playoffs is looking more and more likely.
And for the Toronto Maple Leafs, it seems like some bad news. The Bruins are undefeated against the Leafs this season, and they put on yet another impressive performance on Thursday. The Bruins didn’t just win the game 4-1; they showed some incredible physical play in an overall testy game.
The Bruins won 4-1 against the Leafs in Toronto on Monday and did it again on Thursday in a game with a lot of playoff vibe. And who else but Brad Marchand was in the center of everything?
Early in the game, Maple Leafs’ Jake McCabe was already getting a penalty when he crosschecked Brad Marchand after the whistle.
The crosscheck hit Marchand high, but instead of being sent for two separate penalties, the referees mistakenly sent Matthew Knies to the box, as well as McCabe. This meant a Bruins 5-on-3 instead of a 5-in-4 for four minutes, and the Bruins scored straight away.
Later in the first period, Brad Marchand collided with Matthew Knies when the puck was nowhere near, and Knies left the game and didn’t return. Marchand wasn’t called for a penalty, which led to some anger from fans on social media.
Marchand also hit Ilya Lyubushkin, which led to Max Domi trying to fight him.
Marchand refused to drop the gloves, but he certainly had it coming after the questionable collision with Knies and the hit on Timothy Liljgren earlier this season, which had the Leafs’ defenseman missing 17 games to a high ankle sprain.
Brad Marchand couldn’t care less about all the fuzz in the game. He didn’t drop the gloves, but Tyler Bertuzzi did with Parker Wotherspoon, and Max Domi did with Charlie McAvoy.
As for Brad Marchand, he’s getting into playoff mode. After one of the Bruins’ goals on Thursday, he skated by the Leafs bench and pointed at some of his opponents in pure mockery.
Postgame, Marchand hilariously explained why the game became so physical and emotional with one of the best quotes of the season.
“It kind of starts when you get crosschecked in the face and throat early,” he said per Bruins beat writer Ty Anderson.
See all the incidents down here:
