Maple Leafs' Reaves gets real on Blackhawks' Perry: 'He's not tough'

It doesn't sound like Toronto Maple Leafs enforcer Ryan Reaves is the biggest fan of Chicago Blackhawks pest Corey Perry.

"I never really liked him, to be honest," Reaves said, per Sportsnet. "We always seem to kind of run into each other when we play against each other, but not a lot of love for that guy. … Just the way he runs his mouth, I don't know. He kind of acts tough. He's not tough."

The pair of veteran forwards got into it during the Maple Leafs' 4-1 loss to the Blackhawks on Monday night, jawing at each other from their respective benches throughout the contest.

The conflict between the two started when Toronto forward Noah Gregor hit Chicago defenseman Nikita Zaitsev. Gregor answered for the play in a fight with Blackhawks blue-liner Connor Murphy.

Reaves went on to give Perry a couple of less-than-friendly shoves in the middle frame.

Perry and Reaves didn't end up dropping the gloves, but if they did, it would've been the latter's third tilt in as many games as a Maple Leaf. Reaves took on Montreal Canadiens rearguard Arber Xhekaj in the season opener and followed it up with a clash against Minnesota Wild forward and former teammate Marcus Foligno.

This wasn't the first time Reaves and Perry had given each other a piece of their minds. The duo let each other have it during a contest in March 2022, when Perry was a member of the Tampa Bay Lightning, and Reaves was with the New York Rangers.

Perry did have the last laugh during Monday's showdown against the Leafs by scoring on a breakaway in the second period to give the Blackhawks the lead for good.

Toronto and Chicago will face each other for the second and final time this season on Nov. 24.