Marchand lifts Bruins in OT to even series

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, 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 one-timer 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.

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 host Carolina past Nashville in the first game of their firstround playoff 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.

The Hurricanes host Game 2 on Wednesday night.

Andrei Svechnikov added the clinching empty-netter on a breakaway at 18:13 for Carolina. Teuvo Teravainen also scored a first

Avalanche 4, Blues

●

1: Gabriel Landeskog found an early way to calm down the Colorado Avalanche — he dropped the gloves and brawled.

That fighting spirit energized a roaring crowd — biggest of the season — and certainly rubbed off on the team.

Nathan MacKinnon scored the tiebreaking goal 30 seconds into the third period and wrapped it up with an empty-netter, Philipp Grubauer stopped 22 shots and the host Avalanche beat the St. Louis Blues 4-1 on Monday night in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series.

Landeskog recorded a “Gordie Howe hat trick” with a goal, assist and a fighting major, which he earned in the first period by sticking up for a teammate following a big hit.

“We were kind of tiptoeing our way into it a little bit,” Landeskog said. “I thought that was going to calm us down a little bit and get the crowd into it.”

ELSEWHERE

Red Wings: Detroit

● is sticking with coach Jeff Blashill for their rebuild despite a five-year postseason drought and a career record of 172-221-62. Blashill’s sixth season behind the bench ended May 8 with an overtime loss to Columbus

and both teams finished with a Central Division-low 48 points for the season.