Brad Marchand, Bruins still waiting for winger’s elite 5v5 production to return

Brad Marchand couldn’t help but crack a smile as the Garden crowd roared with approval on Thursday night. 

The source of the 34-year-old winger’s bemusement might have been the sight of David Pastrnak ducking in terror when he uncorked his howitzer of a shot on the power play — with the puck sailing just below the bar and into the Kings’ net to give Boston a two-goal cushion.

Or perhaps such a smile was just a release of relief for Marchand, who had gone four straight games without a point entering Thursday’s matchup against L.A. 

Whatever the source of it was, Marchand’s smirk dissipated as Boston’s bout with its West-Coast foe carried on — with a steaming No. 63 serving as the tangible face of what stood as Boston’s first real frustrating result within the friendly confines of TD Garden this year.

Yes, Boston fell to the Golden Knights last week in a spirited back-and-forth battle between arguably the two top teams in the Eastern and Western Conference. But Thursday was a contest in which the B’s let two points slip through their grasp — due in large part to missed opportunities and a propensity to end up in the sin bin.

With three separate sojourns to the penalty box, Marchand didn’t exactly help Boston’s cause in their first loss after holding a lead following two periods of action (16-0 entering Thursday). But when it comes to the root cause of Marchand’s frustration, it’s hard to overlook the missing component that has marred some of his miraculous return to the ice following double-hip surgery: elite 5v5 production. 

"When a player has such high expectations of himself, and I mean, he is a superstar in the league. He's used to being able to do what he wants, when he wants to do it,” Jim Montgomery said of Marchand following Thursday’s loss. “And it's a learning process and a growth process for him. Having gone through two hip surgeries, we're lucky we had him back when we did and he's still helping us win hockey games.”

Indeed, since getting the green light to play close to five weeks ahead of schedule from his major offseason procedure, Marchand has been far from a net negative for Boston — posting 22 points (nine goals, 13 assists) over 21 games. 

But over the years, Marchand’s value to this club has not just been his power-play prowess or his transformation into an on-ice epinephrine shot via a momentum-shifting check or critical tally. 

Rather, the pugnacious forward has been money over the years as Boston’s most consistent scoring threat at 5v5 play. 

From 2019-2022, there were 632 NHLers who logged at least 1,000 minutes of 5v5 ice time. And among that crowded pool of talent, Marchand ranked first in terms of 5v5 points per 60 minutes at 3.02 — ahead of names like Nikita Kucherov (2.99), Connor McDavid (2.99), Auston Matthews (2.91) and countless others.

But this season, as Marchand continues to shake off the rust and find his game at even-strength action, his hefty reps have not led to his typical surge in production — with Marchand currently sitting at just 5 5v5 points (two goals, three assists) over 21 games. 

If you’re keeping track, there are 14 Bruins on this team who have accounted for more 5v5 points than Marchand — a testament to Boston's outburst of secondary scoring, and an indictment on Marchand’s current drought away from the man advantage. 

1. David Pastrnak - 18 5v5 points
2. Taylor Hall - 17 5v5 points
3. Pavel Zacha - 14 5v5 points
4. David Krejci - 11 5v5 points
5. Jake DeBrusk - 11 5v5 points
6. Trent Frederic - 11 5v5 points
7. Charlie Coyle - 11 5v5 points
8. Patrice Bergeron - 10 5v5 points
9. Nick Foligno - 9 5v5 points
10. Hampus Lindholm - 9 5v5 points
11. Connor Clifton - 8 5v5 points
12. Charlie McAvoy - 7 5v5 points
13. Matt Grzelcyk - 7 5v5 points
14. A.J. Greer - 6 5v5 points
15. Brad Marchand - 5 5v5 points

Marchand has never shirked away from being candid about his own game and the faults that he finds over the course of a long season. While the veteran forward routinely takes the long view when it comes to the progress with his own play, he’s also matched those measured expectations with the reality that his game is not remotely close to its usual level.

"I still have to get my conditioning up to where it needs to be to play at the level I need to play at,” Marchand said late last month. “ Which I knew. I knew it was going to be a work in progress and that's part of why I wanted to come back early. If I came back, again, at the end of November, it's going to take me until January-February to feel good, to get back to my game.

“But it's hard to gain steps on guys when you play every day and until I'm able to start doing a little bit more. I'll be slowly climbing. So yeah, it's a work in progress, which I knew. But yeah, I haven't been great with my details and my conditioning. Was in a lot of battles that I don't typically lose.”

Of course, given the uphill climb that Marchand was handed in wake of his surgeries, it shouldn’t necessarily come as much of a surprise that Boston’s sparkplug was going to need some time to get back to his normal self. 

And if Marchand is back to stacking up points away from 5v4 reps come January and February, these recent struggles will stand as the blip on the radar of a player who has routinely carved up defenses for years. 

Those results have yet to present themselves to Marchand and the Bruins so far in 2022-23. But even amid this current drought, Marchand isn’t losing hope that a breakout sits on the horizon. 

“I have high expectations for my game,” Marchand said Thursday. “When I'm not there, regardless of if it's now or if it was last year or previous years. If I don't have a good game, I'm not happy. But it's a process. It's not something that's gonna happen overnight. Just gotta keep chipping away. And I feel at times, it's coming back. I feel more comfortable out there, feel like my conditioning is getting back. It's coming.”