The 2024 NHL playoffs kicked off last night with the marquee matchup of the Boston Bruins and Toronto Maple Leafs. The Bruins won the game 5-1, leading the Leafs to try to steal the game puck, forcing the referees to step in.
Typically speaking, whichever team gets the game puck doesn't really matter. After all, this is the NHL, not little league. At the end of the day, most of the players don't really care about silly mementos like that. However, things are a bit different in the playoffs. Teams have a tradition of creating a board with 16 puck-shaped slots in it to represent the 16 wins required to win the Stanley Cup. Teams fill out their board with game pucks after each victory on a playoff run. As such, the Bruins needed that puck to carry on this tradition. Luckily, the referees stepped in, taking the puck from the Leafs as they tried to sneak off with it.