Marchand comes alive in time to keep Bruins out of big hole
All Brad Marchand had to show for the first 60 minutes of Monday night’s game was two penalties for post-whistle antics.
He needed less than a minute to make up for it.
Marchand scored 39 seconds into overtime and the Boston Bruins rallied to beat the Washington Capitals 4-3 Monday night, tying the East Division firstround playoff series at a game apiece.
After a hard-fought victory in which Marchand played a significant role, the Bruins will almost certainly take the good and the bad of their leading scorer who likes to get under the skin of his opponents.
“There’s way, way more good than bad, and I think he wanted to drag us into the fight — and we needed it,” coach Bruce Cassidy said. “I think he’s matured enough now to not take himself out of the game. Maybe that would have been a game in the past he would’ve let it get to him and he wouldn’t have been an effective player, but he found his game and certainly a big part of the win with the overtime winner.”
Marchand ripping a onetimer past Craig Anderson to send the series back to Boston tied will be remembered far more than him jabbing Capitals defenseman Brenden Dillon below the belt at the end of a scrum in the first period or slashing Anthony Mantha when they got into it in the second. But those won’t be forgotten, and could have derailed him.
“It’s about just being able to kind of get back into the game,” said Marchand, who ranked third in the NHL with 69 points during the regular season. “We’re obviously on the biggest stage right now and got to stay out of the box in these games, so I’ve got to do a little bit better job there.”
The Bruins are at their best when Marchand is toeing that line and also producing. So it was captain Patrice Bergeron’s job to grab him, reel him in and get Marchand re-focused on the task at hand. It worked, and Boston doesn’t want Marchand any other way.
“That’s who he is,” said Bergeron, who scored in the first along with Jake DeBrusk. “He competes at all times. His will and his want to be the difference is there every time.” HURRICANES 5, PREDATORS 2» Jordan Staal scored twice and Nino Niederreiter beat Juuse Saros for the go-ahead goal early in the third period, helping Carolina beat Nashville first game of the teams’ first-round Central Division series.
Niederreiter hammered the puck past Saros from between the circles at 2:26 of the third, finishing a perfect pass from Martin Necas only moments after Saros had made a terrific stop on Vincent Trocheck.
That broke a 2-all tie as the Hurricanes made their move with a strong final 20 minutes — not to mention a far more physical stretch after the first.
Staal illustrated that with his second goal midway through the second, created partly by his own pressure on the forecheck. After Saros stopped a shot near the post from Warren Foegele, Carolina’s captain gathered the loose puck and pushed it past Saros for a 4-2 lead at the eight-minute mark.
Andrei Svechnikov added the clinching empty-netter on a breakaway at 18:13 for Carolina.
By the end, Carolina had finished with a 38-24 edge in shots on goal and outhit the Predators in a game with plenty of chippy moments and chesty exchanges between the teams.
“I’m not concerned at how the game is going to be played, because we kind of have shown that all year,” coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “Whatever style ends up playing, we’ve answered the bell, always. If it’s an upand-down game, OK, we can do that. If it ends up being a little grittier, that actually suits us, too.”
AVALANCHE 4, BLUES 1 » Nathan MacKinnon had two goals and an assist in a big third period as Colorado opened the West Division first-round series with a win.
Avs goaltender Philipp Grubauer showed why he will be a Vezina Trophy candidate, stopping 22 shots. His counterpart, Jordan Binnington, was sharp despite allowing three goals on 49 shots.