'There Wasn't A Response Because It Wasn't A Bad Play': Bruins' Brad Marchand Gives Thoughts on Lack of Response From Maple Leafs After Injuring Timothy Liljegren

It was announced two days later that Liljegren had suffered a high-ankle sprain and would be placed on long-term injured reserve.

There was no response from the Maple Leafs' players following the trip from Marchand. The reason why, Marchand said on Saturday ahead of their second matchup against Toronto, was because "it wasn't a bad play."

"I hated everything about [the lack of response]," Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe said on Nov. 4.

"It's not what we want to be about. At times, we've responded very well in those situations in the past. It's about consistency, though, so we've addressed it."

When looking back on the incident that occurred exactly a month ago, Keefe said the team has grown "a lot" in terms of responding to plays.

"I think that particular incident probably got more attention than it deserved, quite frankly. Over the years I think we’ve addressed those situations fine, at times maybe not. I know everybody in here watches just our team for the most part. 

"But turn on your TV and there’s a lot of teams in the league that don’t blow up and sell the farm every single time somebody gets hit. You’ve got to play hockey, too.

"I think our group has done a good job of sticking together and that was a bit of a wake up call for us, no question."

There were a lot of thoughts ahead of the Maple Leafs and Bruins' second meeting about whether this would be the game where Toronto responds to the play. Marchand says he isn't expecting anything to happen when the two teams take to the ice on Saturday night.

The veteran forward also said that the reason why it was a big situation was because Keefe said that the team addressed the lack of response.

"That’s one of those things that happens quick in the moment. Their coach is being emotional trying to get their players to be there for one another and that’s what good teams do.

"It’s just one of those things that happens fast in the game. You get tied up and you just try to battle for position on the puck. Things happen. Clearly that one wasn’t a big deal, they made it out as something. Unfortunately when you allow that stuff to leak to the media outside of the room it creates more drama than is necessary and that’s kind of what happened in that situation."