Perry must have been playing a little mind game with the Leafs and it worked. The Lightning handled the Leafs with relative ease, knotting the series up at 1-1 with a 5-3 victory. On Sunday, ahead of Game 4 with the Leafs now up 2-1 in the series, Perry was asked about the incident point blank. Straight-faced, Perry said the following.
Corey Perry has been in the league a long time. He has had some deep playoff runs and even won a Stanley Cup with the Anaheim Ducks back in 2006-07. He was a member of a Montreal Canadiens team of misfits who grinded their way to the Stanley Cup Finals last season. He was also a Cup Finalist one year prior as a member of the Dallas Stars. At this point, we should probably just trust that Perry knows what he's doing.
Still, as a Leafs fan, I'd like to see Jake Muzzin line Perry up for a massive hit along the boards at some point in this series. I guess that means that Perry is doing his job, much to the dismay of the Leafs' faithful.