Leaked Footage Captures Morgan Rielly's Heated Meltdown on Referee vs. the Kings

The Toronto Maple Leafs needed a victory on Saturday night against the Los Angeles Kings, and while it may not have been the best game right off the bat, the team did secure the 3-1 win thanks to John Tavares and Auston Matthews leading the way.

But not everything was sunshine and rainbows for the Leafs, and some players were certainly a bit frustrated overall with how the night went.

Morgan Rielly was one of those players, and some recently leaked footage from the game shows just how furious the veteran defenseman was with the officiating.

Rielly was absolutely irate that the Maple Leafs were unable to initiate a line change after scoring, and with the urgency about wanting McMann off the ice in order to have Jake McCabe take his proper spot, the ref seemed to dilly dally when dropping the puck, much to Rielly's chagrin.

If the Maple Leafs weren't able to initiate a proper change, it would leave them shorthanded, and the longer they had McMann out there, the worse it could have been.

With John Tavares' power play goal, the Maple Leafs ended up being 4v4, which while not the worst thing in the world, did have Toronto only with one D-man to protect things, and it was certainly a bit of a bizarre incident.

Rielly's outburst seemed to have caught a couple of players off guard as well, because during the video you can visibly see both Jake McCabe and Calle Jarnkrok smiling and almost shaking their heads in a 'can you believe that?' moment.

It's also a great sign that while Rielly hasn't necessarily enjoyed the best season overall, he's still the ultimate team player, and his tirade shows it.

But it didn't seem to harm the team at all though, and backed by a strong performance from Anthony Stolarz, and the heroics of both Tavares and Matthews; it was a successful night all round.

Rielly finished the contest with one assist, one blocked shot, and a plus/minus of zero for the night. He has 35 points in 72 games this season (7G, 28A) with 19 PIM and a minus-17 rating; though that's skewed heavily due to empty net goals.

Passion is the name of the game for Craig Berube's team, and their longest tenured player certainly showed that Saturday night.

Let's just hope it translates into a strong and passionate playoff run.