When the regular season started to wind down last spring, the Stanley Cup Playoffs matchups in the Eastern Conference started to come in more clearly. The Boston Bruins were edged out by the Florida Panthers for the top spot in the Atlantic Division, which meant a first-round matchup with the hated Toronto Maple Leafs.
As it became clear that the Bruins and Maple Leafs were going to lock horns in a first-round best-of-seven series, it appears that’s exactly what the locker room wanted. Not only was the whole room looking forward to another series with Toronto, but so too was one player in particular.
Former Bruins forward Jake DeBrusk claimed he owns the Toronto Maple Leafs
Pat Maroon only spent a couple of months with the Bruins after being acquired at the trade deadline last season from the Minnesota Wild. The former Tampa Bay Lightning forward was very familiar with the Atlantic Division, but just not with the Bruins/Maple Leafs rivalry. That all changed.
In speaking with the Spittin’ Chicklets podcast, Maroon, who left in free agency last summer for the Chicago Blackhawks, spoke about what the Bruins locker room was hoping for and got.
“All those guys were like, ‘We want Toronto, they never beat us.’ Everyone was so confident in that room,” said Maroon.
That is understandable, but one player was hoping for the Maple Leafs and that was former Bruins forward Jake DeBrusk. Why did the 14th overall pick of the 2015 Entry Draft want Boston’s heated rival? It was simple according to Maroon.
“Jake DeBrusk, he was like, ‘I own Toronto, I own Toronto.’ And he was out of the gates,’’ Maroon said. “He came out hot, too. He was scoring, and I was like, ‘This is great.”
To be fair, DeBrusk was right. In 21 playoff games against the Maple Leafs, he had nine goals and 14 points. In last season’s seven-game series, the Bruins won in seven games when David Pastrnak scored in overtime of the deciding game, DeBrusk had thre goals and two assists in the series. He potted two goals in the Black and Gold’s Game 1 victory.
This season it doesn’t appear that we’ll get another Bruins/Maple Leafs postseason series as Boston is struggling to even get into the field, but it might be a good thing as DeBrusk left in free agency for the Vancouver Canucks last summer. He will, however, hope to continue “owning” the Maple Leafs twice a season in the future.