It’s hard to say if Brad Marchand heard some of the whispers after the first couple of playoff games, or still has a secret social media account where he can pick up on the hot takes circulating about the 35-year-old captain.
Marchand looks old.
— Tony Massarotti (@TonyMassarotti) April 25, 2024
But the plain truth is that the Bruins captain didn’t have a goal in his first few playoff games and wasn’t a huge factor 5-on-5 despite piling on three power-play assists in the first couple postseason games against the Maple Leafs. Worse still, he looked in Game 2 like a player who was a half-step slower than usual and had some difficulty even handling pucks or cleanly hauling in passes to keep the flow going for the Black and Gold.
Things were set up for somebody to put Boston on their proverbial back in a pivotal Game 3 in Toronto and that’s exactly what Marchand did with a two-goal, three-point performance that saw No. 63 score the final two goals of the 4-2 victory over the Leafs at Scotiabank Arena. Marchand’s two goals saw him tie Cam Neely for the Bruins franchise all-time lead with 55 Stanley Cup playoff goals scored in his illustrious career.
“Just battles. They’re competing very hard and playing very physical, and we needed to up our tempo a bit,” said Marchand to Sportsnet following the game about what he liked. “We played better tonight. [There were] definitely pockets that we need to improve on, but [it was] a good game.”
Oh, by the way, Marchand also now leads the Bruins all-time with 12 game-winning playoff goals in a postseason hero role that he’s played time and time again over the years for his Original Six franchise.
Brad Marchand tallied twice during the third period to tie Cam Neely atop the @NHLBruins’ all-time playoff goals list and power the visitors to a 2-1 series lead. #StanleyCup#NHLStats: https://t.co/MuZv2pJ4Jy pic.twitter.com/5UkEI0Whfq
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) April 25, 2024
The B’s captain was on the ice for all four of Boston’s goals scored in the game and served a pivotal role in all of them doing one thing or another.
The first Trent Frederic score off the rush had Marchand and Tyler Bertuzzi basically wrestling with each other in the neutral zone and sort of distracting everybody while the Bruins went about tying the game.
Bertuzzi vs Marchand is getting good pic.twitter.com/RsdmlmvF1U
— Joe Haggerty (@HackswithHaggs) April 25, 2024
The second PP strike was a Marchand shot and rebound that landed at Jake DeBrusk’s stick before No. 74 popped it into the net for a go-ahead goal. The third was a rifled Marchand short side snipe off a Danton Heinen pass from below the goal line that turned out to be the game-winner.
Brad Marchand gives Boston the lead again just 28 seconds later.
— Conor Ryan (@ConorRyan_93) April 25, 2024
3-2 game. pic.twitter.com/i1DiqW0BH1
And the fourth goal was another play that started with Marchand flipping Bertuzzi off his back like they were kids wrestling in somebody’s backyard, and then going to the net to slam home the rebound of a David Pastrnak empty net bid that clanged harmlessly off the side of the cage.
Beyond that, Marchand was also part of a brilliant Bruins penalty kill that kept Toronto off the board with five power-play chances, and a key leadership voice within a Bruins group that seemed to get better after the Leafs scored the first goal of the game.
“In every way possible, I think,” said Charlie Coyle, when asked how Marchand set the tone. “With his play, that’s one. Chipping in scoring-wise, battling and just not backing down, his leadership on the bench too and the way he talks and keeps talking and keeps us engaged in whatever we need to do in any given situation whatever it calls for.
“He’s always on top of that. So it goes beyond his play on the ice, which is exceptional. It’s on the bench and in the locker room and his all-around leadership and character.”
Certainly, there were other key contributors in the Game 3 victory as Jeremy Swayman made 28 saves and was Boston’s best penalty killer by time and time again turning away quality scoring chances for the Leafs. And Frederic had one of his best games in recent memory scoring Boston’s first goal, finishing with five hits and four shot attempts in an active, physical game in all three zones.
But it takes a special performance to get the Maple Leafs as salty as Sheldon Keefe was about Marchand following the Game 3 outcome.
“You need to play through it. He’s a world-class player both in ability and how he plays, the gamesmanship and everything. He’s been in the league long enough, as you can see…that he gets calls. It’s unbelievable, actually, how it goes” said Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe. “But you’ve got to play through that stuff. I don’t think there’s another player in this series that gets away with taking out Bertuzzi’s legs like that.
There’s not another player that gets away with that, but [Marchand] does and it’s an art. And he’s elite at it. So we have to avoid those situations where he can put us into those spots. I think we’ve managed him pretty well, but we make a mistake at a key time that allows him to get the winner.”
It certainly sounds like a coach trying to work the refs to get a few penalties called on Boston’s captain over the balance of the series even as Toronto got the vast majority of the power plays handed out in Wednesday night’s Game 3 setting. Perhaps with good reason as Marchand’s performance in the pivotal mid-series win makes a big-time statement that he could be a very big factor the rest of the way for a Black and Gold group that’s taken an upper hand in the best-of-seven playoff series.
The Bruins needed one of their big guns to step up and win Game 3 for them in Toronto and it was Marchand once again as a postseason hero for the hockey club he fearlessly leads into battle.
