Brad Marchand says Habs aren't Boston's biggest rival anymore

One of the all-time great Original 6 rivalries is no longer the fiercest from the point of the Boston Bruins, according to captain Brad Marchand.

The Bruins and Montreal Canadiens have been historically viewed as arguably the most bitter rivalry in the National Hockey League owing to plenty of postseason matchups over the years along with plenty of animosity between the two sides during the regular season..

Bu in the words of Marchand, the Canadiens are no longer Boston's biggest rival. Instead, that title now belongs to another historic Original 6 foe, and their opponent in Round 1 of the upcoming Eastern Conference Quarter Finals - the Toronto Maple Leafs.

“You see the excitement they have all throughout Canada when they’re in playoffs,” Marchand said Thursday, as per NHL.com. “Makes it a lot of fun to play them. And I think, just with the history we’ve had with [Toronto] recently, they’re probably our biggest rival right now over the last decade… it’s a lot of fun to play them.”

“They’re always extremely competitive,” Marchand added. “You never know which way the series is going to go. But that’s what you want. That’s what you love about hockey is the competition aspect. They’re real competitors over there, especially the way they’re built right now. So it’s going to be a lot of fun, and that’s what playoffs is about. It’s about the best teams going head-to-head.”

The Bruins and Leafs have faced one another three times in the postseason in the last 11 years (2013, 2018, 2019). And it's been Boston coming out on top in every matchup, and each one of the series has concluded with a Bruins Game 7 victory on TD Garden ice.

Which team will emerge victorious this time around?

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