Brad Marchand Comes to Defense of Maple Leafs

“When you see the pressure that Toronto faces,” Marchand said on Maple Leafs fans. “They just beat the pressure into this team. It’s got to be tough on those guys to walk to the rink every day and not feel that.”

Marchand noted how brutal the remaining crowd acted for the final minutes of Game 7. The booing, the jerseys, and the clear disdain showed for the players, it’s hard for any team to not carry that with them.

“You see the way the fans treat them at the end,” Marchand said. “How do you not feel that every single day?”

The Panthers are a good team, they’re the reigning Stanley Cup champions for a reason, and only got better by adding Marchand. The long-time Bruin was already a Stanley Cup champion before arriving in Florida and has multiple other Cup Final appearances on his resume.

Marchand says that the Maple Leafs have never experienced high pressure situations like he or the Panthers have. Marchand wasn’t a member of the Panthers last year, but referred to them almost blowing a 3-0 series lead in the Stanley Cup Final to the Edmonton Oilers.

“When you win a Cup, and you play in some of the games that this team played in last year,” Marchand said. “These are not high-pressure games. When you’re playing for an actual Cup, and you give up a three-game lead, and then you’re in Game 7, that’s a high-pressure game, right?”

Marchand did note that any Game 7 is a high-pressure game, but it’s not even close in comparison to what teams like the Panthers or Bruins have felt over the years. The Maple Leafs fan base adds massive amounts of unnecessary pressure to the team, making every loss feel like a colossal failure.

Maple Leafs fans are passionate, they want to see their team succeed more than anything. Not even reaching the Stanley Cup Final since 1967 weighs heavy in Toronto. Four superstar players like Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, William Nylander, and John Tavares should bring huge success, but they’ve fallen well short each and every year.