After his team eliminated the favoured Toronto Maple Leafs on Friday, a grinning Florida Panthers star Matthew Tkachuk took a playful jab at Leafs Nation.
Tkachuk clearly didn’t forget about some Leafs fans chanting ‘We want Florida’ after they ousted the Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round — with Toronto supporters hoping for a Panthers upset the next night against the league-leading Boston Bruins in Game 7.
While those Leafs fans did get their wish, their team lost in five games to the Panthers.
“I don’t think they want Florida that much anymore,” Tkachuk, who was named a Hart Trophy finalist earlier Friday, told Sportsnet’s Kyle Bukauskas after the Panthers’ 3-2 overtime win in Toronto in Game 5.
“I wasn’t hearing many of those after that game, and that might be the best part.”
It wasn’t the first reference to the ‘We want Florida’ chant during the series.
After the Panthers’ overtime win at home in Game 3, Florida fans also mockingly chanted ‘We want Florida’ as they left the arena.