Cassidy: Marchand non-call unfair

ST. LOUIS — Bruce Cassidy knew he was being led down a road that might get him in a little trouble, but the Bruins coach didn’t care. He went down there with eyes wide-open.

Asked if he thought the missed (or ignored) penalty on Columbus’ Pierre-Luc Dubois in overtime of the B’s 5-4 loss to the Blue Jackets on Monday had anything to do with the fact that Brad Marchand was the victim, Cassidy didn’t equivocate.

“Yes,” he said flatly. “I think there is something to that. I honestly do. Part of that is on Brad to not work the refs as much, and part of it is on reputation. For me, what I see with (Marchand) is he has the puck most of the night and he hangs on to it. He wants to attack, he wants to be a puck-possession guy. So he takes a lot of hits, slashes, trips, so you can’t call ’em all. It’s just hockey. But it sure seems there’s a lot that gets let go against him. I don’t know if the refs see the fine against him from a month ago against Pittsburgh (for diving), I don’t know. They can only answer that. But it sure seems after a while now a lot calls don’t go his way.

“But they call them as they see them, I hope. I’m sure they’re being professional about it and not saying, ‘It’s 63, we’re not going to call it.’ But that’s the way it goes.”

Things happen

Angry enough about the noncall to pass on the postgame media scrum so he could cool down, Marchand tried to be diplomatic about it yesterday.

“The refs do a really good job of calling the game the way it should be called. There’s going to be missed calls in games for both teams that happen. It happens for us, it happens against us,” Marchand said. “It’s frustrating when you should have a call and it doesn’t go your way, but that’s part of the game. It’s a game of human mistakes. We make them, the refs make them. That’s how it is.”

Marchand got no explanation on the non-call.

“It happens quick,” he said. “You’ve got to give them credit. It’s a tough situation. We’re in overtime. But it can sway a game. They scored a couple of minutes later. If we get a power play there, even if we didn’t get a penalty shot, there’s no goal there. We feel there should have been a call. There wasn’t. We’ll move on. It’s not a big deal. It’s just one game. Those things happen.”

Told that Cassidy felt he could help himself by not working the refs as much, Marchand cracked, “Maybe I should dive a little bit more. That’s how the game is, so I should start diving every time I’m not getting those calls. Maybe I’ll get ’em.”

Hitting the books

Ryan Donato, who made a splashy three points debut in the B’s loss, did not accompany the team to St. Louis because of a previous commitment to his studies at Harvard, Cassidy said. Donato was expected to get a later flight yesterday, weather permitting, and be ready for tonight’s game against the Blues.

Donato, who played his final game for the Crimson last Friday, is attempting to meet all his academic requirements for this semester.

The lad might be in line for some NHL-level chirping when he arrives here.

Injury update

Rick Nash (upper body), Zdeno Chara (upper body) and Jake DeBrusk (upper body) did not travel, though Cassidy termed them as day-to-day. Patrice Bergeron (foot) remained at home to continue skating on his own and could join the team during this trip.

Adam McQuaid, who had to leave Monday’s game with an unknown injury, is here and participated in practice, so he should be available for the Blues game.

Torey Krug, who’d been nursing an upper-body injury and took a hard hit again on Monday, left practice early, but Cassidy said that both yesterday’s practice and today’s morning skate were optional. He expects Krug to be ready . . . .

Forward Anton Blidh was returned to Providence while forward Jordan Szwarz and defenseman Paul Postma were brought up on an emergency basis.