Reaves answered the bell shortly after David Kampf was hit along the boards and the team is feeding off the player's energy

MONTREAL — Ryan Reaves admitted after the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2 victory against the Montreal Canadiens that he did not see Michael Pezzetta's hit on David Kampf.

"I was changing," Reaves said. "Otherwise it probably would have just happened right away. But I was just sitting, I was just getting off the ice. So, you know, the bench was pretty upset about it. So I figured it wasn't good.

Kampf remained in the game after the hit but was a bit slow getting up. At the next opportunity, Reaves and Pezzetta engaged in a fight that saw the Maple Leafs enforcer get the upper hand.

Following the fight, Reaves had some words for the Montreal bench as a fired up Maple Leafs team saluted their player on the way to the penalty box.

"He's just an animal, honestly, he's a beast," Auston Matthews said of Reaaves. "I think it's moments like those where you really realize how important he is to the team and what he brings on the ice as well as off the ice. 

"So I thought, like I said, a couple games ago or last week, I mean, he's been playing some incredible hockey for us as a late and peaking at a really good time. So it's been great to see."

Matthews clearly looked like he was enjoying the fight while on the bench.

Matthews spoke following Reaves fight against Tampa Bay Lightning forward Tanner Jeannot just a couple of days before the Pezzetta scrap.

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obpSN7n2p_0[/embed]

Reaves spoke after the game with his hand heavily bandaged up. 

After a slow start to the season, the Toronto enforcer has turned his game around and quickly become a staple of the fourth line. With the playoffs set to get started in less than two weeks, it would be difficult to leave the 37-year-old off the Game 1 roster at this point.

Signed to a three-year, $4.05 million contract this season, Reaves has three goals and two assists in 45 games with Toronto.

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