On February 8, the Boston Bruins and Pittsburgh Penguins kicked off the back end of their 2021-2022 National Hockey League seasons at TD Garden. The Penguins won the game 4-2, but Brad Marchand found himself in hot water with NHL’s Player Safety following the contest.
Marchand’s Trangression
The story started during the second intermission, where Marchand denied Tristan Jarry throwing a puck over the glass to fans. No one knows if the intended fan was a child or a Penguins’ fan. It was a little classless, though Boston fans had a chuckle.
Brad Marchand didn’t let Tristan Jarry throw a puck over the glass to fans in Boston…priceless: pic.twitter.com/1fzQj40O1t
— Blake Thorne (@_BlakeThorne) February 9, 2022
After that, the game continued at the physical pace expected between two historic teams. Headed into the back end of the game is where it got awful.
After a stoppage at 24.1 seconds remaining in the game, Marchand approached Jarry in the crease and threw a haymaker. Marchand was then driven away by referees to avoid further altercation. That did not work, because Marchand circled back and used his stick like a lance in a medieval jousting battle to poke Jarry in his neck protector. These mental and emotional outbursts should hold no place in hockey, especially in a historic hockey atmosphere like Boston; the Bruins’ left winger should know better.
Brad Marchand clocks Tristan Jarry and chaos ensues…not good: pic.twitter.com/15Qt0NeDcK
— Blake Thorne (@_BlakeThorne) February 9, 2022
It is a nasty look on Marchand. Prior to this, he was doing an excellent job of building his reputation around the hockey world… this will set him back a decent amount. Nevertheless, social media certainly did not fail to entertain when it came to hot takes and comments after the game. A ton of attention shined on this sequence.
On Wednesday, the NHL Department of Player Safety weighed in. They suspended Marchand for six games. It is a hefty punishment. However, when you have been suspended seven times previously and fined five times over your career in the NHL, there is no letup when it comes to repercussions from the league.
How this Affects Boston
The Bruins are in for a tough stretch of games with Marchand sidelined and Patrice Bergeron battling an upper-body injury that involves his head. The biggest hit in this scenario is losing Marchand against the Carolina Hurricanes, Ottawa Senators (twice), New York Rangers, New York Islanders, and Colorado Avalanche. There are some tough matchups here, and without the Halifax native, these games will be true tests for the rest of Boston’s locker room. Everyone knows what Marchand can do on the ice, and how impactful he is in every scenario (5v5, penalty kill, and power play). It is going to take an entire group effort to fill the skates he left on the ice.
Bruce Cassidy has already deemed Bergeron out for Thursday’s game against the Hurricanes, which will also be another challenge for the rest of this squad. With Marchand out and Bergeron’s status up in the air, the rest of the Bruins are going to have to step into leading- and point-producing roles.
Marchand accounts for just under 14 percent of the Bruins’ points. Also, Bergeron sits at 10 percent of the Bruins offensive production. Boston is losing about one quarter of their offensive prowess with these two guys out. That means that David Pastrnak, Taylor Hall, Charlie McAvoy, Charlie Coyle, and Erik Haula will have to step up.
From a leadership standpoint, guys like Brandon Carlo, Nick Foligno, Pastrnak, Hall, and McAvoy will have to fill the role(s), with the most notable leaders on the team absent for some time.
Boston’s Forward Lines: Feb 9 Practice
The Bruins’ lines took the hit from these recent developments. No plans have been made for Bergeron’s return thus far, so they will play with these for now:
Hall-Haula-Pastrnak
Jake DeBrusk-Coyle-Craig Smith
Foligno-Trent Frederic–Oskar Steen
Anton Blidh–Tomas Nosek–Curtis Lazar
Each line needs to produce every night in order for the Bruins to win games during this tough stretch, especially the first line (aka old second line). Granted, Pastrnak is the second leading point-producer on the team, but he cannot carry the Boston through these games; other guys will need to show up to play. Bruins’ fans hope to see Bergeron back in a full-contact practice jersey soon — they need him. As for Marchand, expect to see him back on the ice in Seattle against the Kraken on February 24.
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