Auston Matthews makes his feelings crystal clear on facing Brad Marchand ahead of Panthers matchup

The Toronto Maple Leafs are set to face the Florida Panthers on Tuesday in what will be a battle for first place in the Atlantic Division.

Currently, the Maple Leafs are at 94 points and occupy the No. 1 spot; the Panthers and the Tampa Bay Lightning both are at 91 points, but each have a game in hand, meaning they've both played one less game.

Following today's practice, Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews expressed his thoughts about Florida's newest acquisition: Brad Marchand, the former captain of the Boston Bruins.

"Yeah, I mean, you had a player of his caliber, obviously, really, really good player, strong player, you know. So it obviously gives them a little bit of a boost, for sure," Matthews said. "But, you know, I think you just gotta be ready to play no matter who's in the lineup, regardless."

The Panthers and Maple Leafs are scheduled to face off at 7:30 p.m. EST at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto.

The Bruins traded Brad Marchand to the Panthers at the deadline

The Bruins signaled the end of an era at the 2025 NHL trade deadline, sending Brad Marchand to the Panthers. They also traded Charlie Coyle to the Colorado Avalanche and Brandon Carlo to the Maple Leafs.

Naturally, Carlo looks forward to facing his former Bruins teammate, as he indicated following Boston's morning skate.

"It's going to be crazy facing him," Carlo said of playing against Marchand for the first time in his career. "I watched his first game there and saw his immediate impact. I know he'll be high-energy and won't treat me any different than any other opponent, even though he's one of my best friends.

"I'm going to grin at him the first time we're out there for a face-off. After that, it's on. It's time to compete and battle. That's something we did almost every day in practice so it shouldn't be too much different."

The competitive nature of both clubs will take over as soon as the puck is dropped. The Maple Leafs hope to create additional distance between themselves and the Panthers in the standings, while the Panthers want to close that gap.

The game could also have heavy playoff implications, as each change in the seedings helps to determine who the opening-round opponent in the Stanley Cup Playoffs will be. Toronto could gain a less favorable matchup if they slip out of the first-place slot, something they want to avoid.