Brad Marchand's pre-game comments put a target on his back vs. Leafs, and he left the game injured for it

I want to preface this by stating that nobody likes to see an NHL player injured, let alone one of its star players, but especially its marketable stars like Brad Marchand.

Still, it's a well-known aspect of hockey that if you talk s**t, you get hit, and Marchand had a target on his back all night on Tuesday after some pre-game comments gave the Leafs a little extra fire in this one.

The Leafs skated away with a 4-1 victory against a tough divisional opponent in the Panthers, but there was some controversy in this one, as a hit from behind from Eetu Luostarinen on Scott Laughton directly in front of an official went uncalled. The ball is now in Player Safety's court, but nobody in Toronto is holding their breath.

As for the Marchand situation, it was Bobby McMann who finally caught up with Marchand at the end of the 2nd period as the former was looking to make a play coming out of the Panthers' D zone.

McMann had lined Marchand up for what would have been a clean, heavy hit, but Marchand caught McMann coming and tried to jump out of the way, taking the brunt of the impact on his hip and leg before crashing down to the ice in a heap. He would not return to the game.

Earlier in the day, Marchand had made some comments about Maple Leafs fans running Mitch Marner out of town, as well as some comments about Auston Matthews potentially planning to leave Toronto. "Gotta stir the pot," he quipped before the game.

Naturally, when the opponent allows his mouth to write some checks, sometimes you have to show him that they don't always cash, and McMann did his job on the forecheck to separate his man from the puck.

Obviously, it goes without saying that we hope that Marchand is okay, and was able to avoid the worst of the hit. The Panthers did say that holding him out in the 3rd was precautionary, so let's hope he's able to bounce back quick and continue what has been one of the best statistical seasons of his career.

Marchand has 23 goals and 46 points through 41 games this season. At age 37, that's quite impressive.

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Player Safety has another opportunity to give the Maple Leafs a fair shake after ugly hit on Laughton