Following their Game 7 victory on Sunday, Florida Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk joined the chorus of teammates defending the Toronto Maple Leafs.
While Brad Marchand and head coach Paul Maurice had already stated on Sunday that the Maple Leafs face excessive criticism for their playoff history, Tkachuk echoed and expanded upon these sentiments during an appearance on the Spittin` Chiclets podcast on Monday.
“Sometimes you feel bad for them because they have some unbelievable players and a great team,” the star forward commented. “I was actually saying this last night to some of the guys. If their team was not in Toronto, dealing with all the crazy circus stuff outside of it, they`d be an unbelievable team and such a hard team to play.”
“They have so much to deal with. I feel bad, we don`t have to deal with that in Florida. I feel like that`s what makes me and my team so lucky. You almost use that against them.”
