John Tavares reveals what happened with Brad Marchand last night

The Toronto Maple Leafs left the ice after 40 minutes with a 6-2 lead over the Boston Bruins. And it looked like Brad Marchand was not happy about it and got chippy with captain John Tavares after shoving his stick into his ribs.

Marchand cross checked Tavares and proceeded to jaw at him while being restrained by an on-ice official. It wasn’t long before Marchand earned himself a 10-minute misconduct for his actions after he said something over the line to the referee.

When asked about the altercation on Wednesday, Tavares explained what took place in during the rift, per TSN’s Mark Masters:

“He gave me a few cross checks. It is what it is. I’m just going to keep playing and focus on executing and doing the job I need to do … that’s part of his game so you just don’t get drawn into that.”

Marchand usually gets under opponents’ skins, but clearly Tavares was focused on the game, which was won 6-4 by Toronto, ending the Bruins’ four-game winning streak.

The Bruins’ pest isn’t the only one who lost his cool during the game. The altercation between Marchand and Tavares occurred moments after Taylor Hall knocked Toronto defenseman Lya Lyubushkin out of the game with a sucker punch, retaliating for what Hall felt was a hit from behind. On Wednesday, Hall was fined for his actions.

The Maple Leafs and Bruins could face another in the postseason and from what fans saw last night, it will be an intense series.