Bruins winger Pat Maroon disrespects Maple Leafs even before puck drop

The Toronto Maple Leafs and Boston Bruins are opening their 1st round playoff series tonight and even before puck drop, the mind games have begun as Bruins winger Pat Maroon attempted to agitate the Leafs during warmups.

Typically, while players are warming up, neither team crosses over the red line and into the other half of the ice. However, just prior to the start of Game 1, Maroon glided to centre ice, not once, but twice, allowing his right leg to drift over the red line as the rest of his teammates kept their distance. It went undetected to many, but Bruins correspondent Shawn Hutcheon realized what Maroon was doing right away.


Shades of Corey Perry shooting pucks down the ice into the opposing team's empty net, Maroon was looking for a reaction from the Leafs. Of course, the 3-time Stanley Cup winner didn't get one. That's not to say that a response isn't coming, but the Leafs weren't about to bite before puck drop.


Cooler heads prevail, as they say, so perhaps the Leafs were just focused on keeping their attention on the game at hand and not Maroon attempting to troll them to throw off their energy prior to the start of the game.

The stakes are always high in any Leafs/Bruins series. The infamous 2013 collapse set a course towards a total top-to-bottom rebuild, beginning with the Leafs drafting William Nylander 8th overall back in 2014, then selecting Mitch Marner 4th overall in 2015 and Auston Matthews with the 1st overall pick in 2016. The Leafs were given some grace after their 2018 series loss, but when the cards came up the same in 2019, core piece Nazem Kadri was dealt to Colorado for a package that included Alex Kerfoot and Tyson Barrie.

The Leafs have not beaten the Bruins in the postseason in 65 years, and eventually their luck has to change. Maybe a calm, cool and collected approach is just what the doctor ordered.