Ryan Reaves rips Corey Perry days after Leafs-Blackhawks battle: 'He's not tough'

Two days after the Chicago Blackhawks got the better of the Toronto Maple Leafs in Connor Bedard's Scotiabank Arena debut, a pair of pests were the ones stealing the headlines.

Ryan Reaves, who had already dropped the gloves twice in his first two games with the Leafs, appeared to try and fight Blackhawks forward Corey Perry several times throughout Chicago's 4-1 win on Monday night, but to no avail.

After morning skate on Wednesday, Reaves was blunt in his assessment of Perry and the role he plays.

"I never really liked him, to be honest," Reaves said.

"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 scrappy forwards got into it multiple times — both physically and verbally — during Monday's contest, with both combatants constantly in each other's ears — even from their benches.

On this particular night, the bad blood between Reaves and Perry appeared to really kick off after Maple Leafs forward Noah Gregor nailed Chicago blueliner Nikita Zaitsev with an iffy hit — prompting Blackhawks defenseman Connor Murphy to drop the mitts with Gregor while Reaves got into it with Perry pretty much every time the two locked eyes after that.

Perry, however, had the last laugh on the scoreboard and game sheet — as seems to always be the case against Toronto — with the 38-year-old burying what stood up as the game-winner on a breakaway with just over five minutes left in the middle frame.

Reaves, meanwhile, had no points, two hits and posted a minus-1 rating in less than seven minutes of ice time for Toronto.

These two clubs will lock horns for the second (and final) time this season when they square off on Nov. 24.

Fireworks are welcome.