Maple Leafs' bench altercation broken down by Sportsnet panel

The Toronto Maple Leafs' bench altercation was explained by the Sportsnet panel in an intervention yesterday ahead of the fifth clash against the Boston Bruins.

If you recall, back in game 4, the Maple Leafs leaders caused a big stir when Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and William Nylander got into it at the bench. Nylander even said to Marner to "stop f*cking crying".


Sportsnet's panel, featuring Elliotte Friedman, explained what led to that altercation.


According to him, the teammates were fighting about a play that didn't go down like they would've wanted to. After a faceoff, it looks like Nylander didn't pass the puck to the right player. The puck was meant to go to Morgan Rielly, but sent it to Jake McCabe instead:




Fortunately, both Nylander and Marner managed to bounce back. After getting criticized by experts accross the NHL for his bad first games of the playoffs, Marner was arguably the best player in game 5.



It'll be critical for him to perform the same way in game 6. With Auston Matthews' status still uncertain, he'll need to have an impact if he wants to avoid elimination.

Source: Hockey Patrol - Sportsnet panel breaks down what led to the Leafs bench altercation