Former Polarizing Leafs Forward Michael Bunting Breaks Silence After Scoring Game-Winner
Michael Bunting scored the game-winning goal against his former team on Saturday and put the nail in the coffin with his post-game comments.
It was a heartbreaking loss to the lowly Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday as the Maple Leafs fell to their former GM as they've started to started to show cracks in their armor and becoming vulnerable as each game passes.
Former Maple Leafs player Michael Bunting sealed the deal last night with the game-winner, and the polarizing forward put things to bed with his comments after getting the win.
Post-game, speaking to Kyle Bukauskas of Sportsnet, Bunting spoke about how his team may have faltered but never wavered in the face of a strong Maple Leafs team looking to make a statement:
Michael Bunting's Maple Leafs Journey
It might be a slight shot at his former squad as the team was often tested and eventually broke against the Penguins. Toronto is now 2-2-0 since Auston Matthews returned, and look a shell of the team that stormed to the top of the Atlantic Division in November.
Bunting was part of the Leafs roster from 2021-2023 and was a standout forward during his time with the club. He scored 46 goals and 66 assists over 161 games for the team and was a big part of Toronto's success during his short two-year stint.
After his two seasons with Toronto he decided to bet on himself on the free agent market and signed with the Carolina Hurricanes before being part of the package that sent Jake Guentzel from Pittsburgh over to the Hurricanes as they tried to make a deep playoff push.
He struggled to start the season but has slowly begun to turn it around and having the game-winner against your former team is a good start.
While he may not have the outburst in scoring as he did with Toronto, Michael Bunting can still make an impact on the ice. Toronto found that out, and while he starts to pick things up again, the Leafs have to decide if getting rid of him was truly worth it.
