The Tampa Bay Lightning have an unlikely weapon in veteran forward Corey Perry. As head coach Jon Cooper explained, he “has been to three straight Finals on three different teams, and that’s not a coincidence.”
While Perry did not have a strong regular season, recording a -28 rating, he’s come out strong in the first game of the postseason as he knows the Maple Leafs very well as a playoff rival. These playoffs mark the third straight time Perry has gone up against Toronto and his stats look good when he plays the Leafs.
In Game 1, Perry put up a goal and two assists, a huge improvement from his one point production in his last 25 regular-season games. He also drew two penalties in just 8:54 at 5-on-5.
He certainly knows when to bring up his game and get under the skins of the Maple Leafs and their faithfuls. Perry is already hated by the Toronto crowd and was booed before the game. If they only knew what he had in store for them…
As Yahoo Sports points out “considering Perry has averaged just 0.41 points per game over the last three seasons, his production against the Maple Leafs is notable.”
But Perry will forever remain, for the postseason in Toronto that is, the man who took out captain John Tavares in 2021. When Perry played for the Montreal Canadiens back then and faced the Maple Leafs in the first round, he collided with Tavares and took him out for the remainder of the series. He didn’t do anything wrong, it was bad luck and Perry even reached out to Tavares right after the game, but the Leafs were left without their captain and, once again, eliminated from the postseason.
And so, Perry is a vilain in Toronto, but one that is not only getting under the Maple Leafs’ skin, but also racking up points.
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