For the second time in four days, the Toronto Maple Leafs and Boston Bruins will meet. After the Bruins left Scotiabank Arena on Saturday night with a 5-3 victory, they have had two days off. The Leafs turned around and played again on Sunday night, losing 5-4 at home to the Carolina Hurricanes. They held a 4-2 lead before blowing it in the third period.
The loss to Boston should be a frustrating one for Toronto, as the Bruins were missing several key players in the lineup, which made it an even more impressive win. In the second period, Bruins defenseman Nikita Zadorov had a clean hit on Scott Laughton, which knocked him out of the game. He missed the game the next night against the Hurricanes and will miss Tuesday's rematch.
Again, while it was a clean hit, it didn't sit well with the Maple Leafs or head coach Craig Berube. Toronto's second-year bench boss had a message ahead of Tuesday night's battle.
Maple Leafs coach Craig Berube sends message before Bruins rematch
Berube said on Tuesday that Laughton will again be out of the lineup, but also they he was not happy about the hit and if given the opportunity, they will get a "lick on a guy.''
“Well, nobody would be happy with that. It’s a tough hit,” Berube said. “It should inject some fire in you, for sure. But we don’t want to be stupid either. We gotta play the game.
“Yeah, opportunity arises to get a good lick on a guy, get a lick on a guy.”
A lot of that is frustration from Berube as Toronto is 8-7-1 with what has been a crazy home-heavy schedule. This will be the Maple Leafs' only fifth road game of the season, of the 17 they've played. Boston, meanwhile, is riding a six-game winning streak that has caught a lot of people by surprise.
You don't need one team to look for revenge by getting a lick on a guy for the Bruins and Maple Leafs to play a physical game. They will play one anyway as rivals. It just adds more spice to the matchup.