An NHL player may sometimes completely dominate an opponent. Certain NHL players provide indisputably powerful performances against specific clubs, whether by chance or on purpose. There’s perhaps no finer example of a guy putting the boots on one organization than Florida Panthers left winger Brad Marchand’s incredible performance against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Marchand has been a thorn in the Maple Leafs’ side for as long as he can remember, whether as a member of the Boston Bruins or now with the Panthers.
And with his game-winning overtime goal in Game 3 of Toronto’s second-round series against Florida, Marchand now has 33 points in 31 career playoff games versus the Leafs.
That’s the third-highest career total of any opponent in Maple Leafs history – only Detroit Red Wings legends Gordie Howe (53 points) and Alex Delvecchio (35) have more post-season points against Toronto. And those players put up those points at a time when there were far fewer teams in the league, making it all the more remarkable that Marchand has been so devastating to the Leafs’ aspirations in a 30-plus-team NHL. But the 37-year-old Marchand has been a not-so-silent assassin since he began his NHL days in 2009.
Marchand’s Game 3-winner against Toronto was his 14th career game-winning goal in the post-season – the most among active NHL players. And Marchand’s game-winner against the Maple Leafs was his fifth career post-season game-winner against Toronto. That ties him with Montreal Canadiens icon Jean Beliveau for the most game-winning playoff goals against the Buds.
In some ways, you might have forgiven Leafs general manager Brad Treliving if he had traded for Marchand at this year’s deadline. Of course, having Marchand on your squad is the most effective method to contain him. But Marchand wanted to be traded to the Panthers, which was the finest stroke of good fortune Florida could have hoped for.
The Panthers didn’t trade for Marchand only for the purpose of facing the Leafs in the playoffs, but you’d be mistaken if you thought Florida GM Bill Zito didn’t consider Marchand’s success versus Toronto when he made the decision to acquire him.
There’s still lots of the Leafs/Panthers series to be played, and let’s not forget, Toronto did win the first two games of the series with Marchand being on the losing end of things. But the Maple Leafs have been haunted by Marchand for a very long time now, and the prospect of Marchand continuing to thrive against Toronto has to be driving Leafs fans crazy.
The Leafs were within one goal of going up three games to none in the series against Florida, but Marchand stopped that from happening with his latest timely goal. Time will tell if Toronto can shake off the Marchand-related demons of the past and get to the Eastern Conference final this spring, but one thing is for certain – Marchand will go down in history as one of the Maple Leafs’ toughest opponents.
