Leafs forward Plekanec has seen his share of Bruins pest Marchand
The Toronto Maple Leafs don’t have near as deep or bitter a playoff history with the Boston Bruins as the Montreal Canadiens do.
But when Toronto acquired centre Tomas Plekanec from Montreal at the National Hockey League trade deadline, the Leafs imported some of that history.
“It’s a playoff series, you don’t need more to a rivalry than that,” Plekanec said Wednesday prior to the Leafs taking on Boston in Game 1 of their National Hockey League opening-round post-season series Thursday. “It’s about the Stanley Cup playoffs.”
Yes, but it’s also about winning one-onone battles.
And no one may be better at winning those battles than Boston winger Brad Marchand, who had an MVP-type season on top of his usual muckraking suspension-worthy play. Marchand is the king of getting under the opposition skin, of playing on the edge, of getting a team off its game.
Nazem Kadri and Leo Komarov are pretty good at it with the Maple Leafs, but it turns one out player in particular — Plekanec — is pretty good at getting under Marchand’s skin. It was not lost on some when the Leafs acquired Plekanec — probably with an eye to a playoff run-in with Boston — they got the one player that Marchand has publicly stated he hates.
“I really don’t know why,” Canadiens coach Claude Julien told the Star when the Habs visited Toronto in the regular-season finale. “At the same time I can tell you there aren’t many opposing players that like Marchand. He is what he is. A great hockey player. He can get under people’s skin. I don’t know what the issue is there. I’ve never brought it up. Marchy can get under everyone’s skin.”
Julien coached on both sides of this rivalry: Marchand for most of the young winger’s career, including a Stanley Cup in 2011, and coached Plekanec for parts of the last two seasons. Marchand and Plekanec faced each other three times in the playoffs.
Julien says Marchand’s penchant for playing on the edge is part of what makes him great.
“When I was there (in Boston) I would always try to work with him as far as making sure he doesn’t cross the line,” said Julien. “Playing on that edge makes him a great player. That’s his competitive spirit.
“Different players have a challenge their whole career with certain areas, that’s going to be his area of challenge, to minimize cross the line,” said Julien. “At the same time, people will say that’s what makes him great.”
Marchand has been suspended six times — 19 games in total — in his career, including a five-gamer in January. He was further fined for an illegal forecheck to the head on April 2. But he also led Boston in scoring.
“He’s as prepared as any athlete for any game,” said Julien. “As much as what you see on the ice, he comes to the rink and he’s focused every game. You know what you’re going to get from him.”
The heyday of the Marchand-Plekanec rivalry came when Plekanec was a scoring force on Montreal, closer to the prime of his career.
Now Plekanec, 35, is aging gracefully as a fourth-line, defensive centre.
“Tomas is the ultimate pro,” said Julien. “A quiet guy. He’s all business. He’s focused. He takes pride in his game. For the last little while he’s been more of a defensive-type of player. He takes pride in faceoffs, in killing penalties. This year, playing against top lines.
“He’s going to do whatever you ask him to do, but whatever you give him to do, there’s a pride in him to want to do it well.”
Line-matching is certainly going to be an issue. The Leafs would like to get Kadri’s line out against Marchand and centre Patrice Bergeron. That’s more likely to happen in Toronto when the Leafs have last change.
In Boston, coach Bruce Cassidy will try to get his top line out against Auston Matthews, who struggled against Bergeron’s line in the only game Matthews played against Boston this year.
But Plekanec’s fourth line — with the gritty Komarov and speedy Kasperi Kapanen — will see some action against Bergeron-Marchand.
“You can trust him without the puck, you can trust him against good players,” Babcock said of Plekanec. “He’ll be important for us in this series. Like all older guys, they get a little more juice this time of year we expect him to be good.
Plekanec — who’d only ever played for Montreal — has looked more comfortable in a Leaf uniform over the past five games.
“He’s got a lot of experience and he’s in the right position all the time,” Komarov said of Plekanec. “He’s really smart with the puck, and never forces anything crazy and never makes the wrong decision.”