Leafs’ Reaves picks up one of the silliest penalties ever against Bruins
The ongoing Toronto Maple Leafs-Boston Bruins series has been filled with big hits and fiery moments. Game 2 on Monday night was no different.
But a little less than four minutes into the third period, Leafs enforcer Ryan Reaves was on the wrong side of an infraction that can only be summed up as odd.
Known for getting in the middle of scrums, Reaves managed to take a two-minute minor penalty from the visiting team’s bench. The call: holding.
Pushing Bruins forward Morgan Geekie out of the way on his way to the bench, the 37-year-old appeared to get into a bit of a tug-of-war with his opponent.
With neither letting go, Geekie almost fell into the Leafs’ bench before a penalty was issued to the seated Reaves.
too many men for Boston and Reaves is called for holding pic.twitter.com/6Bj3URk0Dr
— Omar (@TicTacTOmar) April 23, 2024
Luckily for Toronto, the Bruins, who likely didn’t see that Geekie was still on the ice, were handed a too many men on the ice penalty at the exact same time.
It’s hard to tell how the situation might’ve played out had only one team been gifted a power play, but the pair of penalties did not affect the final 3-2 score.
After the game, Geekie briefly addressed the call, claiming that Reaves was holding his stick.
“I was trying to get off. [Reaves] had my stick. He’s doing his job,” he told reporters. “It is what it is. I’m not gonna comment on it too much.”
As for fan reaction, people seem to be pretty split on who was in the wrong.
Some agree that officials made the right call.
That’s a penalty
No question— Shite Shah (@ShahShite) April 23, 2024
One user even argued that Reaves deserved two penalties.
Reaves should be getting two penalties there. One for the hold, and one for interference from the bench.
— 🇺🇦x – Gene Principe's Pythons🇺🇦 (@Oilers1829) April 23, 2024
Others, though, saw nothing wrong with the play, given it’s the playoffs.
Did Reaves just get a penalty for doing a line change?
— theo (@TheoRichards93) April 23, 2024
Reaves got a penalty for that….. IN THE PLAYOFFS?!???! Unserious league #LeafsForever
— Primo (@JPrimoTML) April 23, 2024
Now tied, the series will hit Toronto for the first time on Wednesday when both teams return to action for Game 3.
Leafs 2024 first-round playoff schedule
- Game 3: Wednesday, April 24, Boston at Toronto, 7 pm ET
- Game 4: Saturday, April 27, Boston at Toronto, 8 pm ET
- Game 5: Tuesday, April 30, Toronto at Boston, TBD
- Game 6: Thursday, May 2, Boston at Toronto, TBD*
- Game 7: Saturday, May 4, Toronto at Boston, TBD**if necessary
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