After escaping Chicago with a point by way of their hard fought shootout loss to the Central-best Blackhawks, the Boston Bruins returned home to the Garden, and behind yet another monster effort from Brad Marchand, sank the Los Angeles Kings by a 3-2 final.

In a matchup of recent champions -- the Bruins winning the Cup in 2011 and the Kings in 2012 -- these foes separated by over 3,000 miles engaged in just the hard hitting, tight checking start that you’d undoubtedly expect given their resumes and status throughout the league.

It was everything you’d expect out of the Bruins and Kings, two of the league's deepest teams in all facets of the game, and naturally, it would be a special teams opportunity that opened things up.

With David Krejci in the box, the revitalized Marchand, who potted two goals at the United Center on Sunday, broke through four Kings, and never quit on the play. Ultimately beating Jonathan Quick with a beautifully patient shorthanded bullet to make it 1-0 for the Black-and-Gold, the marker was the 5-foot-9 pest’s fourth shortie on the year, the most in the NHL.



From there, the intensity went up ten fold.

Milan Lucic and Jordan Nolan dropped the gloves in a true heavyweight bout following Nolan’s hit on Torey Krug, and with Boston on the power play just two minutes later, it would be Krug that responded, slapping home his 11th of the year and putting the B’s up 2-0.

Taking their 2-0 edge into the locker room after one, the Bruins were met with an expected jolt from the Kings in the middle frame, who cut the Boston lead in half through Willie Mitchell’s first of the season. It was yet another sleepy second period for the Bruins, who despite surrendering just four shots in the period, were simply destroyed at the dot, losing 17 of 20 second period faceoffs.

The Kings, an opportunistic team if there ever was one, were keeping up with Boston’s pace.

And finally struck for the equalizer eight minutes into the third period.

As a soft penalty on the Bruins’ Johnny Boychuk gave Los Angeles a 4-on-3 advantage, an absolute laser from Jeff Carter, good for his 19th goal of the year, tied things up at 2-2.

But in shades of any-season-but-this-one, Marchand and the B’s needed just 18 seconds to respond.

Settling himself thickly under the skin of the Kings’ Jarret Stoll, No. 63 took a great feed from Reilly Smith (who got his dish from Patrice Bergeron), and buried home his team-leading 16th goal of the season. With 11:07 to go, the Bruins just had to keep LA at bay.

They did just that, too. Behind Chad Johnson, who finished the night with 21 saves on 23 shots, and some absolutely monstrous hits from the B’s Kevan Miller, who spent yet another afternoon with Zdeno Chara on Boston’s top defensive pairing, the Bruins evened up their season series with LA, returning the Jan. 9 favor with a home win of their own.

Obviously, the talk of the game has to revolve around the play of Marchand.

The Rat, as he’s ever so affectionately known as around the hockey world, is back. And that’s an invaluable developement for the Black-and-Gold. As of late, Marchand’s skating has simply been superb, his shorthanded game with Bergeron continues to emerge as perhaps the best shorthanded one-two forward combo in the NHL, and the bounces are finally going his way.

With all of that, it’s no wonder that he’s tallied up five goals in the last nine periods of B’s hockey.

And that’s where Claude Julien, the coach that’s had more patience with Marchand than any fan or poster on the internet, deserves a heaping portion of credit. He’s stuck with his guy -- a proven asset that’s only gotten better with time -- and his guy is rewarding him in a major way.

“Confidence helps a lot. I think that’s got something to do with it but I think that he is really moving his feet and he’s using his speed to his advantage and he’s creating a lot of plays just by his hockey instincts,” Bergeron, Marchand’s linemate, said of No. 63 after today’s win. “He’s taking what’s in front of him, he’s not forcing plays and he’s got it on a string right now. He’s making some unbelievable moves and it makes us better players on the ice right now and as a line.”

Granted it did come against the Kings’ 25th ranked power play, another positive on the afternoon comes from the Boston penalty kill. The shorthanded group had a strong showing in spite of Carter’s third period goal that came on a 4-on-3 advantage, killing off three of four penalties against.

McQuaid injury considered day-to-day

For a Boston blue-line already battered with injuries given the severity of Dennis Seidenberg’s knee injury that’s put him out of commission for the rest of the season, losing a guy like Adam McQuaid, a serviceable bottom pairing veteran, would be another blow.

But fortunately for McQuaid, who missed today’s game after leaving Sunday’s early with a lower body injury, the damage doesn’t seem to be too bad after further evaluation this afternoon.

He’s considered ‘day to day’ according to Julien, and that’s good news.

McQuaid has a goal, six points, and a plus-12 rating in 30 games this season.

Up next

The Bruins will have a rare four-day vacation of sorts before heading to Philadelphia on Saturday to battle the Flyers for the first time in 2013-14. Boston took two of three against Philly last season, and will get their first look at a Flyers squad that’s won 13 of 22 at the Wells Fargo Center this season.

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