MARCHAND NOT WORRIED ABOUT SLUMP
Enters playoffs on dry spell for goals but still producing
RALEIGH » Going into Monday’s Game 1, a long time had passed since Brad Marchand shot the puck past a goalie.
Marchand did break an 11game streak without a goal when the Bruins beat the Florida Panthers with he scored an empty-netter. That certainly helps, but he hasn’t scored a conventional goal since April 2 against Columbus, a stretch of 13 games.
“It’s nice to get it. At the end of the day, it’s not like it was a big goal or anything. But that’s how the season goes sometimes, where you can score 10 goals in 10 games or zero goals in 10 games. But that’s why you have 82 and not 10,” said Marchand on Monday after the B’s morning skate. “But overall, as long as the team’s winning, you don’t feel that pressure. It really doesn’t matter who’s scoring as long as the team’s winning. Sometimes there are years when it may be a contract year or something when you might put more pressure on that stuff. But that’s not really how I feel any more about going through slumps and stuff. It happens and you’ve just got to work through it. So it was nice to get that one, but I wasn’t really concerned about it any point.”
While the goal-scoring hasn’t been there, Marchand’s game was coming on at the end of the season. He again led the team in scoring (32-48-80) and had points in his last four games (16-7).
“I felt a lot better the last four or five games where I was,” said Marchand. “There’s a lot of stuff behind the scenes. You get picked apart with your game, but a lot of stuff going on behind the scenes and off the ice stuff that come into play with those things that you work though and work at. So come playoff time, when you’re playing for the Cup, you make sure all that stuff’s put aside and you’re focused on your job, which is what will happen here moving forward.”
Marchand did not mention exactly what those behind-thescenes distractions were but he and his wife do have a newborn at home. He also had to work his way back after sitting out for a six-game suspension in February.
Coach Bruce Cassidy was not concerned about his alternate captain heading into the playoffs.
“I think Brad will look at this season and there will be some highs and a few lows,” said Cassidy. “Offensively, it didn’t end as well as he’d have liked it to,
but I don’t think that will bother him. He knows it’s playoffs and everything sort of resets, it’s a different time of year, a different animal, he’s been able to step up his whole career. I don’t imagine this will be any different, at least his mindset, whether it happens or not. Carolina’s going to have something to say about that. But I don’t think he’ll look back on this year and it will affect him one iota going into the playoffs other than he has to be one of our best players if we expect to win.”
Wagner returns
For a lot of Bruins fans, Chris Wagner was out of sight and out of mind after the scrappy winger was sent down to Providence at the end of the training camp. That’s where he’s been all
season. But after delivering 11 hits in 15 minutes of icetime the B’s regular season finale in Toronto, Wagner earned a spot on the B’s postseason roster.
No one told him before the game that a promotion for the playoffs would be in the cards if he played well. But Wagner has been around long enough to know opportunities like that should not be squandered. “I thought I was just play
ing Game 82 and guys were resting and that was it,” said Wagner, one of four healthy scratches for Game 1. “But obviously in the back of my mind, I thought I might as well make an impression and not throw it away because you never know when you get to play another NHL game. And I definitely have a new appreciation for it after riding around on a bus for 70 games. I didn’t fully expect to be here today but I am and there must be a reason for it.”
By all accounts, Wagner played the role of the good veteran soldier while he was in Providence.
“I wasn’t going to go down and cause a scene or anything,” said Wagner. “Once I realized I was going to be down there for a while, I think I kind of embraced it and it helped me mentally get through it. Then I enjoyed hanging out with the younger guys and trying to teach them a few things. Some of the guys, they don’t listen so well. But overall, it was fun, great, and (Providence coach Ryan Mougenel), we’ve got a real good relationship.”
While chatting in the hallway outside the visitor’s locker room at PNC Arena, it was hard not to think back to the night in which he may experienced a career high and an emotional low at the same time. Late in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference final,
Wagner blocked a shot that broke his wrist. The B’s completed the sweep of the Hurricanes, but Wagner missed the Stanley Cup Finals.
“Overall, that game was a good memory, aside from the last 10:37 or whatever when I blocked the shot. But it was still a great atmosphere and that whole year was something special,” said Wagner.
Praise for Brind’amour
The B’s beat the Hurricanes in the playoffs in 2019 and ‘20, but the Canes looked like a different animal this year in the regular season. Marchand gave high marks to the job coach Rod Brind’amour has done.
“Their coaching staff the last few years has started to implement a game and style that takes a few years to build and I think they finally got the personnel on board throughout their whole team to be able to play that way consistently each night,” said Marchand.
“When you have a couple of guys who aren’t willing to do it, or don’t fit the system, then it takes time to replace them and you’re not going to be a dominant team until you can find them. That’s why good teams don’t always have the best players. It’s the best team. That’s what wins in playoffs. They started building that when Brind’amour got in and with the work ethic piece and it takes years to build. I think this year was the year they got everyone on the team to be able to buy in and they got the right personnel. They compete. They enjoy competing. You can see they’re dialed in. I just think their depth now and the guys on the back end and all the way through their lineup. Not only are they skilled, but they’re competitive and they work. And they brought that work mentality to their group. This is the year they’re seeing the payoff.” in.”…