Marchand continues to bust great moves
TEMPE, Ariz. — Nathan MacKinnon threw up his hands and tilted his head back as he looked to the Ball Arena rafters late Monday night as if to say, “Seriously?”
MacKinnon, the Avalanche’s leading scorer and among the top power skaters in the world, was caught flatfooted. And by his summer skating sidekick Brad Marchand, no less.
The Bruins captain was busting a move through the slot when he redirected a nifty cross-slot pass from Charlie Coyle past Colorado goalie Alexandar Georgiev to tie the game at 3.
MacKinnon, who should have been marking Marchand, was slow to react with his skates and stick (he could have whisked away Coyle’s feed).
Though the Bruins eventually lost, 4-3, in a shootout, Marchand’s hustle goal ensured his club wouldn’t leave Denver empty-handed.
Boston fought back from a pair of one-goal deficits to secure a point against one of the Western Conference powers.
“I think it’s really special,” said goalie Jeremy Swayman of the team’s resilience. “It just shows our leadership. Marchy putting us on his back and not taking no for an answer. That’s a huge, huge push for our team and that line. I’m really happy with the guys’ effort. We wanted to start this road trip off right. That’s one way to do it.”
That Marchand victimized MacKinnon was apt.
Earlier in the day, MacKinnon reacted to Marchand’s comments last week that he doesn’t chirp Sidney Crosby
(the third member of the Nova Scotia summer skating squadron) on the ice because he needs to keep his focus.
“Yeah, I don’t think he’s got the same respect for me as he does for Sid,” MacKinnon said with a laugh. “So, yeah, I’m sure he’ll be chirping me for sure.”
MacKinnon even predicted that Marchand “would come after me a little bit.”. So,
Marchand’s equalizer — his second goal of the game and 17 th of the season — was a bit of self-fulfilling prophecy.
“I think he’s an awesome hockey player, obviously,” MacKinnon said. “I think he’s going to be a Hall of Famer one day and it’s always fun playing veterans in the league that have had great careers.”
Marchand’s effort was not lost on his coach.
“Marchy was terrific. I thought he led really well,” said Jim Montgomery. “He was very vocal on the bench about how we needed to get to our game and explaining to his teammates what we had to do.”
Lost in the loss was that Marchand’s second goal gave him 899 career points, moving him into fifth on the franchise’s all-time list.
Those ahead of him include three Hall of Famers: Ray Bourque (1,506), Johnny Bucyk (1,339), and Phil Esposito (1,012), and another, Patrice Bergeron (1,040), who should one day get a call to take his place among the game’s legends in Toronto.
“[Marchand is] the perfect example of when you have will and skill, you can really climb the ladder in this league,” said Montgomery.
Swayman forced in
Swayman, who replaced the injured Linus Ullmark in overtime of Tuesday’s 4-3 loss to the Coyotes, had a strong game with 33 saves against Colorado Monday, none better than his overtime stop on Jonathan Drouin.
Barreling down on a twoon-one, Drouin went to his backhand only to have a sprawling Swayman smother it at the post with his left pad.
Entering Tuesday, Swayman was third among goalies in All-Star Game fan voting at 381,270, behind ex-Boston College star Thatcher Demko of the Canucks (788,278) and Sergei Bobrovsky of the Panthers (440,210). Ullmark (350,140) is fifth.
Poitras injured
Rookie Matt Poitras exited in the third period with an upper-body injury. He appeared to favor his shoulder after a heavy hit along the boards . . . Brandon Carlo, who left with an upper-body injury shortly after assisting on Boston’s second goal Monday, was not in the lineup Tuesday. “He’s day to day,” reported Montgomery. Rookie Mason Lohrei, a healthy scratch against the Avalanche, slotted back in . . .
James van Riemsdyk also returned, replacing Oskar Steen, and played on a line with Trent Frederic and Matt Poitras. Danton Heinen dropped to the fourth line with Johnny Beecher and Jesper Boqvist . . . Rafter check: Shane Doan’s No. 19 is the only jersey retired by the Coyotes. Drafted by the original Winnipeg Jets (who later moved to Arizona), Doan played all 21 of his seasons with the franchise, compiling 402 goals and 972 points in 1,540 games.