Ahead of the first-round series between the Boston Bruins and Toronto Maple Leafs, Bruins’ captain Brad Marchand claimed that the rivalry between the two Original Six teams has surpassed the rivalry between Boston and Montreal.
And that was on display straight away, as Bruins winger Pat Maroon tried to psyche out the Leafs during warmups prior to the start of Game 1.
Maroon was seen skating over the red line at center ice, gliding into the Leafs’ half.
There’s an unwritten rule in the NHL not to cross the line over to your opponents, and it was clear that Maroon was asking the Leafs if they would do something about it.
Nothing happened then, but it appears that Ryan Reaves learned about it afterward.
During warmups of Game 1, Maroon was yet again skating along the red line. But this time, Ryan Reaves, Toronto’s tough guy, did the same.
The two almost collided as they patrolled the red line, watching closely that their rival didn’t cross the line.
On social media, fans absolutely loved Reaves’ and Maroon’s actions, with everyone saying the same thing about it.
”Hockey is so weird but also awesome,” one said.
”Two trolls guarding their respective sides of the bridge, gotta respect that,” another said.
”Just some casual peacocking, no big deal…” a third added.
Many are hoping that Maroon and Reaves, two veteran tough guys of the NHL, will drop the gloves sometime in this series, but it hasn’t happened yet.
But if they keep trying to psyche each other, with things like we’ve seen so far during both warmups, we have to think it’s only a matter of time before someone crosses the line, and it’ll be exciting to see what follows next.
Toronto won Game 2 to tie the series 1-1.
