After the Toronto Maple Leafs pulled off a 4-2 win in Washington on Saturday, Capitals third line center Lars Eller had mentioned his mind was somewhere else during the game.
Warning: the quote you’re about to read below is incredibly spicy, proceed with caution.
Lars Eller on the Maple Leafs: "We were just playing against Crosby and Malkin, so everything kind of drops off from there. It's not that special, to be honest. It's a good team, like a lot of others. They'll probably be a playoff team, I would think."
— Isabelle Khurshudyan (@ikhurshudyan) October 14, 2018
Friend of the blog Steve Dangle also noted the salty quote in his video recap of the game.
Per Tom Gulitti, this is the Eller quote in its entirety and the context behind it.
Here's the full quote from Lars Eller when I asked what the Caps did to keep the Leafs' big guns mostly off the scoresheet until Matthews' late goal: pic.twitter.com/LMirmMG5TM
— Tom Gulitti (@TomGulittiNHL) October 14, 2018
“Nothing special, really. We were just playing against Crosby and Malkin, so everything kind of drops off from there. It’s not that special, to be honest. It’s a good team, like a lot of others. They’ll probably be a playoff team, I would think.”
Leafs third line center Nazem Kadri took notice of Eller’s comments. That pungent aroma you’re smelling through your computer is beef.
Nazem Kadri says this Lars Eller quote is "bulletin board material" for the #leafs. Adds: "I don't know how he can be serious with that comment." https://t.co/J4XZBA9gBC
— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) October 15, 2018
Kadri then clarified those comments to TSN’s Kristen Shilton:
“I don’t know how he can be serious with that comment, but I understand they’re coming off taking a banner. You’ve got to give teams respect that have earned it, and I certainly feel we’ve earned it.”
Currently, the Leafs lead the league with 10 standings points.
At the start of the season, the Leafs were tied with the Tampa Bay Lightning and Winnipeg Jets as betting favorites to win the Stanley Cup this year. The Leafs have not won a playoff series since the 2011 season, and have lost their last two opening playoff series to the Capitals and Bruins.
Headline photo: Toronto Maple Leafs
