At the end of the first period of the Bruins double-overtime loss in Game 2 Saturday, a scrum broke out. In the scrum, punches were thrown by both teams, several crosschecks were given by both teams, but only one involved party was given penalty minutes: Brad Marchand.
After the loss, Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy vouched for his star forward.
“[Marchand] had no penalty minutes in the playoffs. None, until last night, zero,” Cassidy said. “Leading scorer on our team. All of a sudden I’ve got NHL, like ‘keep an eye out.’ I’m kind of like, ‘What are you talking about? Why are you going down this road on a guy that’s kept his nose clean?’
“So I have a bit of a problem with the treatment of [Marchand] with certain officials,” added Cassidy. “And I think he’s earned some of his, obviously, his reputation. But not right now. He’s been clean all year, he’s been clean all playoffs. So I hoped that would go away.”
Well Bruce, unfortunately it won’t be going away anytime soon. You should also stay away from social media, Bruce. From wanting him suspended for the remainder of the playoffs, to banned from the NHL, the Marchand social media takes are as hot as fire.
Heading into Game 3 Tuesday night in Columbus, the Bruins were hoping Marchand’s name would be a hot topic because he scored his first goal of the series, or picked up some big assists in a Bruins win that shifted the series back in their favor.
But with the Bruins 2-1 loss in Game 3, there was none of that.
Instead, Marchand’s name was a hot topic because of this:
“I'm not giving you my thoughts. I don't need to give you thoughts. You can come up with something there,” said Blue Jackets head coach John Tortorella.
The internet has enough thoughts, John, We don’t need to come up with some of our own.
According to Aaron Portzline of The Athletic, Marchand will not be facing supplemental discipline.
With frustration on his side, it was another dumb act by Marchand in a season where he’s gotten away from that type of stuff, and been more of the dynamic goal scorer he can be.
His punch to the back of Scott Harrington’s head did not hurt them in the game, but an earlier penalty did. With Marchand in the box for a high stick against Boone Jenner, Matt Duchene struck for the second straight game, giving the Blue Jackets a 2-0 lead at the time.
With Jenner flying in on the forecheck, and quickly coming towards Marchand, the Bruins forward threw his hands and stick up to brace himself for the hit, but it was Marchand’s stick that got Jenner in the face.
It was the second consecutive game Marchand was in the box for a Blue Jackets power play goal.
Sergei Bobrovsky frustrates Bruins yet again
After two dominating performances in Games 1 and 2, Bobrovsky was at it again in Game 3. But Tuesday was the Bruins best attempt at finally breaking through the Bobrovsky wall. After beating him twice in each of the first two games of the series, the Bruins had a series-high 37 shots on goal in Game 3.
But this time, just one of those 37 were able to get past Bobrovsky, and barely so.
On top of getting 37 pucks on net in Game 3, the Bruins hit two posts and a crossbar in the loss.
“The secondary saves that he’s making are very impressive. But he’s (Bobrovsky) definitely going to crack at some point,” said Brandon Carlo. “I have a lot of faith that we’re going to start putting pucks past him here pretty soon. We’ve had some great opportunities today throughout all three periods to put pucks behind him. Credit to him today, but overall, I don’t think it’s going to last.”
Despite the 37 shots, the Bruins only had seven high danger scoring chances
according to Natural Stat Trick.
Powerless power play
After another night of failed power play attempts, the Bruins have just one strike on the man advantage in 10 tries this series.
Puck possession was a big issue on the power play for the Bruins in Game 3. Once they entered the zone with the puck, they didn’t stay there long. From clogging of the lanes, to blocking shots, the Blue Jackets made things very difficult for the Bruins two power play units.
Third line Pastrnak is no help
You know things are bad when people start asking if the Bruins should scratch David Pastrnak for Game 4.
The answer there is an easy one: no.
Yes, Pastrnak has been awful, he seems lost on the ice. But you can not bench a 38-goal scorer in a playoff series where you are down 2-1, entering an important Game 4 on the road.
In an attempt to get Pastrnak going, head coach Bruce Cassidy started Pastrnak on the third line with Charlie Coyle and Marcus Johansson, hoping to get Pastrnak going by playing him with two guys who like to dish the puck and make plays happen.
In 9:19 of five-on-five time together, the three had four shots on goal and three scoring chances generated. But Pastrnak was the same Pastrnak he’s been for most of the playoffs, turning the puck over, being hesitant with the puck and being an all-around liability for the Bruins.
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