Brad Marchand Drops Subtle Maple Leafs Joke After Game 7 Win

“Yeah, we had the beLEAF,” Marchand said with a grin, drawing laughs from the panel and a funny reaction from Bissonnette.

It was a pointed but light-hearted shot after Marchand became the first player in NHL history to win five Game 7s against Toronto. 

Marchand finished Sunday’s game with a goal and two assists and led Florida in second-round scoring with eight points across seven games.

While Marchand played up the rivalry, he also gave Toronto credit during his media availability, prasing the team and blasting Leafs Nation for their never-ending criticism of the franchise.

“I said it before, I wasn’t just pumping their tires, they’re a different team this year,” Marchand said. “They competed way harder than they ever had.

“If you look at the heat this team catches, it’s actually really unfortunate. They’ve been working at building something really big here for a while, and they were a different brand of hockey this year. They are getting crucified and I don’t think it’s justified just because they weren’t able to do it.

”But we are a really good, deep team, too, and that’s how things go sometimes.”

Florida will face the Carolina Hurricanes in the conference finals, beginning Tuesday.