Brad Marchand on Maple Leafs' first period: "They have that killer instinct right now."
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Brad Marchand says Panthers expected tough Game 3 vs. Maple Leafs: ‘They’ve got that killer instinct now’
Photo credit: © Sam Navarro-Imagn Images
By Alex Hobson
May 10, 2025, 08:00 EDTUpdated: May 10, 2025, 14:12 EDT
The Toronto Maple Leafs fell 5-4 to the Florida Panthers in overtime in what was as riveting a playoff game as you can get, especially between two teams like these. In what was a game full of weird bounces, including an own goal from Morgan Rielly which he then parlayed into a game-tying goal off of Florida’s Seth Jones and in, the Panthers won the battle and took Game 3. Of all the people to do it, nobody should be shocked that it was Brad Marchand.
Marchand has long been a thorn in the side of the Maple Leafs, so it’s only fitting that when the unthinkable happens and he’s traded from the Boston Bruins to the Panthers, the Leafs still find a way to face him in the playoffs.
Despite how much he’s tormented them in the postseason, he’s always had nothing but good things to say about the Leafs and games he plays against them. And that was no different following Game 3, a game in which he scored the winner to defeat them.
It wasn’t the first time in the series Marchand spoke fondly about the Leafs. He commented on how impressed he was with their play off the rush following the Leafs’ Game 2 win.
“Their biggest threat is that they’re very good on the rush,” Marchand said after Game 2. “You got to be above them. 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.”
Whether you believe these are genuine comments, an attempt at mind games, or a mix of both, it’s clear that the Panthers are prepared to face a vastly different Leafs team than the one they defeated in five games back in 2022-23. For the issues the Leafs had in net and in the defensive zone as a whole, they’ve been finding ways to defeat Sergei Bobrovsky, with 12 goals on him through three games, and they proved that they didn’t have any quit in their game by sending the game to overtime.
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