The Toronto Maple Leafs’ first-round series against the Boston Bruins has involved everything you’d expect from an NHL Original Six tilt: heroics, comebacks, and even a few star players pushing the officials.
During last night’s contest, a 2-1 win for the Leafs to force a Game 7 in Boston tomorrow night, Boston captain Brad Marchand was caught by the game broadcast cameras shoving one of the two linesmen as he headed toward the Bruins’ bench.
Brad Marchand wasn’t letting the linesman get in the way of his line change 😳 pic.twitter.com/wD914a069u
— Gino Hard (@GinoHard_) May 3, 2024
Former professional hockey referee Tim Peel, who was canned by the NHL in 2021, offered his take on the incident.
Not a good look!!!
— Tim Peel (@TimCPeel20) May 3, 2024
“Not a good look!!!!” Peel replied to a video of the post shared by World Hockey Report on X.
The NHL has yet to comment on the play, which Marchand was not penalized for.
Peel was let go by the NHL in 2021 after a video surfaced of him telling a game partner that he intentionally called a penalty during a Nashville Predators/Detroit Red Wings game that he didn’t quite feel fit the justification for a call, simply due to wanting to keep the penalty differential in the game relatively balanced.
“It wasn’t much, but I wanted to get a [expletive] penalty against Nashville early,” Peel said on the video.
Earlier in the series, Marchand was accidentally taken to the ice during a scrum by a linesman, with some fans accusing the Boston forward of trying to embellish the play before realizing it was an official.
Game 7 of the series takes place tomorrow at TD Garden.
Leafs 2024 first-round NHL playoff schedule
- Game 7: Saturday, May 4, Toronto at Boston, 8 pm