Brad Marchand, the same player that would consistently cause some sort of disruption in every single game against the Toronto Maple Leafs and has haunted them for over a decade, couldn't stop saying nice things about the team after Wednesday night's game.
The Toronto Maple Leafs earned a well-deserved 4-3 win over the Florida Panthers to take a 2-0 series lead. Battled in the corners, played the right level of physical, and took advantage of poor defensive reads to strike right into the heart of Sergei Bobrovsky, putting multiple pucks past the veteran netminder.
Through all of this, Florida Panthers winger Brad Marchand was apparently on the bench with his team losing but nodding along and actually respecting the opposition. An odd turn of events for the player that would take every opportunity to trash talk anyone willing to face him on the ice.
Marchand went so far as to say that this is a different Leafs team than he ever faced in the playoffs before.
Famously, Marchand was still on the Boston Bruins when they earned a Game 7 win over the Maple Leafs in the first round last season. And, of course, was on the Bruins during the other two recent first-round series that went the full distance, in 2018 and 2019. Going even further back, the pesky winger was notably one of the better players on that Bruins squad that delivered the heartwrenching Game 7 loss in 2013.
But this time around it's different. Maybe it's just because he's on a new team and not wearing the Black and Gold. Boston fans might not have ever let him get away with praising the opposing team, but now in sunny South Florida, Marchand's lips are loose with some good complements.
"It seemed like every time we gave them the opportunity to get above us, they created something or capitalized on it. It shows how dangerous they are. It doesn't take much for them to score. We have to make sure we're pretty much perfect on defensive coverage," Marchand said via The Toronto Sun's Terry Koshan.
The Panthers were certainly not perfect and like Marchand said, they paid for it. In the second period, both the goal scored by William Nylander and the goal scored by Max Domi was caused by a Florida defensive misread. It's not common for them to do that, but their blueliners got caught trying to hover in the neutral zone and paid the price. Quick counterattacks led the Leafs to pull off smart passing plays and quickly put the puck in the back of the net.
Now, the Leafs, full of confidence thanks to Marchand, have another opportunity to go up 3-0 in a playoff series this year Friday night in Florida.