From Boston To Florida, Brad Marchand's Reign Of Terror Over The Leafs Lives On
Sometimes, an NHL player more or less owns a particular opponent. Whether it's happenstance or deliberate dominance, there are unquestionably powerful performances made by certain NHLers against certain teams. And there's probably no better example of a player laying the boots to one franchise than Florida Panthers left winger Brad Marchand's amazing play against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Whether it's been in his time as a member of the Boston Bruins or his current stint with the Panthers, Marchand has been as prickly a thorn in the side of the Maple Leafs as they come. And after Marchand's game-winning overtime goal in Game 3 of Toronto's second-round series against Florida, Marchand now has 33 points in 31 career playoff games against the Leafs.
That's the third-highest career total of any opponent in Maple Leafs history – only Detroit Red Wings legends Gordie Howe (53 points) and Alex Delvecchio (35) have more post-season points against Toronto. And those players put up those points at a time when there were far fewer teams in the league, making it all the more remarkable that Marchand has been so devastating to the Leafs' aspirations in a 30-plus-team NHL.
But the 37-year-old Marchand has been a not-so-silent assassin since he began his NHL days in 2009. Marchand's Game 3-winner against Toronto was his 14th career game-winning goal in the post-season – the most among active NHL players. And Marchand's game-winner against the Maple Leafs was his fifth career post-season game-winner against Toronto. That ties him with Montreal Canadiens icon Jean Beliveau for the most game-winning playoff goals against the Buds.
In some respects, you could've forgiven Leafs GM Brad Treliving if he went out at this year's trade deadline and acquired Marchand. Of course, the best way you can contain Marchand is to have him on your team. But Marchand wanted to be dealt to the Panthers, and that's the best stroke of good fortune Florida could've asked for.
The Panthers didn't trade for Marchand strictly because they envisioned a playoff showdown against the Leafs, but you'd be fooling yourself if you believed that Marchand's success against Toronto didn't cross the mind of Florida GM Bill Zito when he decided to acquire Marchand.
There's still lots of the Leafs/Panthers series to be played, and let's not forget, Toronto did win the first two games of the series with Marchand being on the losing end of things. But the Maple Leafs have been haunted by Marchand for a very long time now, and the prospect of Marchand continuing to thrive against Toronto has to be driving Leafs fans crazy.
The Leafs were within one goal of going up three games to none in the series against Florida, but Marchand stopped that from happening with his latest timely goal. Time will tell if Toronto can shake off the Marchand-related demons of the past and get to the Eastern Conference final this spring, but one thing is for certain – Marchand will go down in history as one of the Maple Leafs' toughest opponents.
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