Hot mic captures playoff trash talk between Leafs and Lightning players

Apr 25 2023, 5:03 pm

Everyone loves some good trash-talking. And the ongoing playoff series between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Tampa Bay Lightning has featured plenty of it.

A heated altercation between the teams was captured on a hot mic on Saturday during Game 3 of the series.

After Toronto defenceman Morgan Rielly levelled Tampa forward Brayden Point with a dangerous hit into the boards, things got nasty between the two benches.

As a result, one of the microphones from Sportnet’s broadcast picked up a little more than it bargained for when it captured the moments of stoppage play after the big hit.

With subtitles provided by the good people at Hockey Collective, the following clip gives us a good idea of what the chirping in this series has been like.

 

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The video begins with Lightning forward Tanner Jeannot telling Leafs defenceman and former Lightning player Luke Schenn he wants to “go again” since he made two hits from behind.

Then Tampa forward Pat Maroon calls out the Leafs bench and Mitch Marner in particular. “We’re gonna f*cking kill you,” he exclaims.

As tensions mount Schenn tries to explain that he apologized before calling Tampa forward Brandon Hagel “irrelevant” and Hagel telling him he’s “out of this league anytime.”

To be fair, the trash talk is perfectly fitting for a game that got so out of control.

And the antics didn’t stop there. About five minutes into the period, Auston Matthews found himself getting punched by Tampa captain Steven Stamkos in a rare star-on-star fight.

Even Toronto’s general manager Kyle Dubas was caught on video on Saturday night chirping Lightning fans during the third-period scrum.

All that feistiness paid off, though as the Leafs walked away with a big win on the road.

And after a momentous comeback on Monday the Leafs also won Game 4 of the series in overtime, taking a 3-1 lead in the best of seven.

Puck drop for Game 5 is set for 7 pm ET, with Toronto having the possibility of clinching their first postseason series victory since a 2004 win over the Ottawa Senators.

Al SciolaAl Sciola

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