Full blown chaos in Toronto leads to Lyubushkin being sucker punched, Rielly being mauled
Sheldon Keefe alluded to this Leafs/Bolts series being a violent one, and boy did they deliver in Game 1 on Monday night. Just how rough of an affair was it? Well, for some context, there were 122 penalty minutes assessed in the game.
With the Lightning down 5-0 in the third and tempers flaring, a skirmish began in the corner, which quickly evolved into multiple simultaneous brawls. As the officials worked to get things under control, a pair of questionable plays occurred, with a pair of Lightning players taking liberties on a pair of Leafs.
The first act of cowardess occurred as Ilya Lyubushkin was attempting to tie up Victor Hedman, when Corey Perry approached Lyubushkin along the wall and absolutely drilled him with a sucker punch while the official had him knocked off balance.
The next cowardly act belonged to Pat Maroon, who was locked up with Morgan Rielly during the same scrum. Rielly was merely trying to keep Maroon from entering the scrum when Maroon dropped his gloves, pulled Rielly's jersey over his head and then began feeding him a series of stiff punches with Rielly never having dropped his gloves. You can see both replays below:
Credit to the Leafs for taking it to the Bolts the way they did in Game 1. They came out hard, they dictated the pace of the game and they played a physical style and fully embraced the chaos.
I'd imagine we'll see Perry and Maroon answer for their actions either through Player Safety or a little ice justice in the form of a tilt with Wayne Simmonds or Kyle Clifford - assuming Clifford doesn't get suspended for boarding Ross Colton in the first period.
| POLL | ||
MAI 2 | 788 ANSWERS Full blown chaos in Toronto leads to Lyubushkin being sucker punched, Rielly being mauled Should Perry and Maroon be fined or suspended for their actions? | ||
| Fine them both | 240 | 30.5 % |
| Suspend them both | 398 | 50.5 % |
| It's just playoff hockey, baby! | 150 | 19 % |
| List of polls | ||
