Marchand reflects on 2013 Cup defeat, Bruins hoping playoff experience pays off and more takeaways from Media Day taken at TD Garden (2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs)

(Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)

2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs

Marchand reflects on 2013 Cup defeat, Bruins hoping playoff experience pays off and more takeaways from Media Day

By Conor Ryan

May 27, 2019 • 10:51 am

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It may not be as flashy as Super Bowl Media Day, but the annual circus held the day before Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final provides plenty of material to digest — featuring both light-hearted inquiries and topics centered on the primary task at hand for both the Bruins and Blues.

With Boston’s 10-day break between games finally at an end, here are eight takeaways from Sunday’s Stanley Cup Final Media Day at TD Garden.

1. Marchand still not over Cup loss in 2013

Brad Marchand might already be a Stanley Cup champion, but the B’s winger often doesn’t divert much energy toward dwelling on the past — even the glory days that came in the summer of 2011.

The 31-year-old skater instead opts to stay in the present and remain fixated on the task at hand for the Bruins. Although, at times, the summer of 2013 resurfaces as a painful memory in what has otherwise been an illustrious career.

Boston seemed like a team of destiny during a lockout-shortened 2012-13 season. Less than a month after the Boston Marathon bombing, an inspired B’s club orchestrated a comeback for the ages against the Maple Leafs en route to another trip to the Stanley Cup Final.

We know what happened after that. Dave Bolland, man.

“It was a tough time for Boston, obviously going through a lot,” Marchand said. “We were kind of hoping to be a bright spot and that one hurt a lot. It’s still something I think about all this time.”

When asked if he’s more motivated in this Blues series to feel like he did after a Cup victory in 2011 or avoid a similar fate to 2013, Marchand was candid.



"You can draw from both," Marchand said. "It was so sweet to win, but it hurts to lose. That was devastating. It still hurts to this day. I probably look back more on the loss and what I'd do differently than the win. That's something when you lose something like this, you’re that close,  you work that hard, it never leaves you. Hopefully we don't feel that again.

"It hurts to lose. You're so close. It's a matter of inches, it can be one play that could separate a winning team from a losing team. When you're that close and you watch another team celebrate and it should be you, it's a tough pill to swallow."

2. Bruins hoping experience pays off

Bruce Cassidy didn’t want to give away any “board material” for the Blues to stew over in this series, but he eventually relented when asked of an area that Boston might have major advantage in against St. Louis over the course of a seven-game series.

“Experience. I'll go the easy route,” Cassidy said. “I just believe that our guys that have been there, that have won a Cup, have lost a Cup, that should give us an edge. Some people disagree with that once you're here, but I believe it will give us an edge. I think it's helped us a lot this week in the preparation, with all the down time. And hopefully going forward that is an advantage for us.”

You can’t argue with the logic, especially when it comes to playing on hockey’s biggest stage in the Cup Final. In total, Boston’s roster features a combined 68 games of Stanley Cup Final experience and six Stanley Cups — with Patrice Bergeron, Zdeno Chara, David Krejci, Tuukka Rask and Marchand all remaining as holdovers from that 2011 title run. Down the other end of the ice, St. Louis’ roster has a combined 10 games of Stanley Cup Final experience and two Stanley Cups.

But as you can expect, Blues bench boss Craig Berube isn’t dwelling too much on experience (or lack thereof) when it comes to his team.

“Well, I'm sure if I was managing Boston I would say our experience is really great,” Berube said. "But it is what it is. The puck's going to drop and the guys are going to have to adjust to what's happening. I would say if the experience comes in it's in handling situations like this, media day, things like that. But once they start the game, it's going to be what they do normally. And hopefully a year from now we'll say, geez, St. Louis has got a lot of championship experience."

3. That extended break might have helped David Krejci

At long last, we no longer need to entertain “rest vs. rust” debates and search in vain for outlets to bide our time with as we wait for playoff hockey to return. It remains to be seen how the Bruins will fare in Game 1 given their extended layoff, but one player that’s taking the positives out of the break is David Krejci.

It’s a bit of a surprise, given Krejci’s thoughts about practices and the monotony that comes with them — but the veteran pivot benefitted from a couple additional days off this week. A late scratch from Thursday’s intrasquad scrimmage due to a fever, Krejci once again did not participate during practice on Saturday before eventually making his return on Sunday.










4. Time to make a call on video review


After a missed call on a hand pass from
Timo Meier
cost the Blues a game in the Western Conference Final, Hurricanes head coach
Rod Brind'Amour
was adamant that video review needs to be further implemented into today’s game in order to cut down on potential series and season-altering gaffes.


Cassidy didn’t necessarily agree, and it looks like one of his players is in the same boat.


“Yeah, get rid of the video reviews,” Marchand said. “That’s the problem. When you start bringing in all the video reviews, the refs start getting crucified. They’re out there to do a job — you start taking it away from them and little by little, then it’s going to escalate. Now they’re going to want video review for pucks hitting the net, hand passes, so how much are you going to start taking away from the refs? … The only way to do is do everything video review or none of it. …  I don’t care either way, just pick one, but you're in between right now."


5. Cassidy reflects on 1st tenure as head coach


Cassidy has been sitting pretty for quite some time now as head coach of the Bruins, with Boston accruing 256 points (second most in NHL) since he took over
back on Feb. 7, 2017.


But it’s been far from easy for Cassidy, who was bounced from his first gig as NHL head coach back in 2003 after going 47-47-9 with the Washington Capitals over the span of a year and change.


Then the youngest head coach in the league at the time of his appointment (37 years old), Cassidy said he went through plenty of growing pains during his tenure in D.C., both in terms of adjusting to the NHL ranks and learning the ropes when it comes to building a good rapport with players in the locker room.


It took Cassidy over a decade before he earned another shot at a head coaching job in the NHL, but he believes the lumps he took along the way put him in position to thrive when given a second chance in Boston.


“It was a while ago,” Cassidy said of his tenure with Washington. "Communicating with players, I was a younger guy, really no NHL acumen, I played a few games up in Chicago here or there, so that was a learning experience for me, how that world works. This time I was a lot better prepared for it, being around Boston, even though I'm in Providence, you're a little bit older, better balance, my, you know, in my life overall, it makes you a little more patient with players as well. But I think it's just the aging process, it just, you learn -- 15 years -- if you want to get back, you got to do things differently, take what you did well, learn what you didn't do well.


“For me, part of that was how I communicated my message, I believe. I've learned to be better with it. Players are more receptive to it now than they were then, so shame on me. But that's the way it goes, here we are, and hopefully continue learning. I'm sure I will again next year and the year after that and the year after that. It's just the way it goes in this business. So that's probably the biggest thing. Much more comfortable in my own skin is the term I've used both personally and in career-wise and I think it's made a difference.


6. Marchand good to go for Game 1


Bruins fans already on edge regarding Krejci’s status for Game 1 on Monday received another scare after Marchand was not spotted during Boston’s practice Sunday morning.


While Marchand
during Thursday’s intrasquad scrimmage, Cassidy noted later that the winger did not practice due to a maintenance day — and should be all set for Game 1.


"I just told Butchy I want a day off, I had enough of practice," Marchand said. "I'm good."


7. Wagner has no regrets


Chris Wagner’s
postseason is likely over after blocking a shot and suffering an arm/wrist injury during Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Final. But the Walpole native isn’t second-guessing the decision to put his body between the net and a
Justin Faulk
slap shot on May 14.


"It’s Sunday, so I told my mom that I’m going to drop a Bible quote,” Wagner said when asked if I had second thoughts about blocking the shot. “Jesus said that there’s no greater love than laying down your life for your friend. We’re all friends and we all love each other. Why would I not do that?”




Sunny the Stanley Pup was the star of the afternoon:




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