In a season where things have been far from stable or sitting at the usual high standard for the Boston Bruins, there was another odd twist this weekend when captain Brad Marchand was benched for the overtime and shootout in an important 6-5 Saturday shootout loss to the Ottawa Senators at the Canadian Tire Centre.
Joe Sacco made certain to confirm during postgame with the media that it was a coach’s decision rather than any kind of injury for Marchand, and that it was something the team leader was on board with just like anybody else on the roster would be in the same situation.
“It was just an in-game decision that I made. [Brad Marchand] and I are on the same page,” said Joe Sacco after Sunday’s practice at Warrior Ice Arena. “Knowing [Marchand] and the way he prepares and the way he works, he will be ready to go [on Monday]. He’s a true pro. He’ll be ready to go. He’ll be dialed in 100 percent. It was just an in-game decision that we made.
“We are always in communication. We have great communication, and we talk about everything.”
Monday, of course, is a Monday afternoon matinee against the San Jose Sharks that the entire Bruins roster should be geared up for at this point.
Marchand is in the midst of a very rough month of January where he’s got one goal and a minus-9 in eight games, and his line has taken a back seat to the Morgan Geekie-Pavel Zacha-David Pastrnak trio over the last few weeks. That was absolutely some of the dynamics at play in Saturday’s game where Geekie, Pastrnak and Zacha carried the day offensively, and at both ends of the ice before things fell apart in the final minutes.
One of the biggest reasons why Marchand continues to be an important leader-by-example for this Bruins group, however, was his actions on Sunday as he addressed things head-on and took accountability for his own play as it related to being left out of the OT mix. It’s exactly the way a captain should respond to that situation even if the inner competitor inside was seething in the aftermath.
“He’s got to make the decisions based on how every guy is playing each night. I get it. It’s something where I need to be better,” said Marchand. “My details weren’t good enough and in a game like that, they have to be spot on. Obviously, overtime is a big opportunity and you’ve got to earn that right. It’s part of the game.”
Brad Marchand on Joe Sacco’s decision to sit him yesterday in overtime:
— Andrew Fantucchio (@A_Fantucchio) January 19, 2025
“He’s going to make decisions based on how he feels each guy is playing each night. I get it. Next time, I need to do better.” pic.twitter.com/tugQxqdRPf
But let’s be real here.
Marchand is third all-time in the NHL with 21 overtime game-winners behind only a couple of guys named Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin and has built up a career of being an overtime assassin when it comes to making plays and ending games in favor of the Black and Gold. Opting to play it safe and bench a difference-making player like that – even one that hasn’t been putting out his best hockey this month by a long shot – is a pretty short-sighted move in a game where the Bruins really needed to go for the jugular and the two points against an Ottawa team that’s now bypassed them in the playoff race.
Perhaps it will do the entire Bruins dressing room some good as the situation once again proves in no uncertain terms that accountability is there for everybody. But an interim head coach benching the team captain in overtime less than two months after a head coach was fired is an eyebrow-raising development to say the least.
With each passing day it feels like there is getting to be too much for this Bruins team to overcome in order to achieve their playoff goal, and proud holdovers like Marchand that harken back to a better, more functional group are all that’s holding the B’s in the postseason mix right now. Marchand’s overtime benching was just another notable low point in a season that’s been full of them for a Bruins that has not come close to living up to what everybody thought they would be to start the season.
That’s the biggest takeaway watching No. 63 sit and watch in overtime of a must-win game for the B’s last weekend.
ONE TIMERS
*David Pastrnak is certainly doing everything in his power to keep the Bruins on track for the playoffs. Saturday’s shootout loss was his third straight three-point game and No. 88 has eight goals and 14 points in eight games during the month of January while producing at the level everybody has been accustomed to in his career. Pastrnak is now on a pace for 37 goals and 89 points this season, which is more like what is expected of him after a very slow first three months to the regular season.
*Johnny Beecher snapped a 39-game goal-scoring drought with a go-ahead score in the third period of Saturday’s game that should have been the game-winner. It was a classic slump-busting knuckle puck shot from long distance that managed to find a hole on its way to the back of the net.
Johnny Beecher gives the Bruins a 4-3 lead with his first goal since October 16th.
— Jamie Gatlin (@JamieGatlin17) January 18, 2025
pic.twitter.com/ntRLQE9Jq9
Instead, it becomes a footnote in Saturday’s damaging shootout loss to the Senators and takes some of the pressure off his back that he had been feeling while failing to cash in on a number of scoring chances in the last couple of weeks.
“Any time you get a Grade-A chance it means you’re doing the right things and getting to the right spots, but I hadn’t really been able to get that bounce in a while,” said Beecher. “At the end of the day everybody wants to score goals. It’s a huge part of the game.
“I’m just trying to impact the game in other ways whether it’s winning a D-zone draw or killing penalties and blocking a slapshot from the point. You still try to contribute in any way that you can. I’m not expected put up 50 [goals] a year and do the things that No. 88 is doing. At the end of the day, I can try to win every faceoff, have a few blocked shots, get a few hits…it’s small victories like that can really lead to success in the end. That’s what I focus on when the puck isn’t going in the net. The last few months has been a grind, but you just need one to go into the back of the net.”
*Matt Poitras was getting some looks on the half-wall with the second power play unit during Sunday’s practice at Warrior Ice Arena, and it’s expected that he’s going to see some special teams action moving forward. Poitras has one assist in two games since being called back up from Providence, and now the Bruins want to get a look at him on the man advantage after showing that he’s got his offensive mojo back in his first couple of NHL games since returning.
“To not defer to make sure he attacks off the elbow from the half-wall and to get into the scoring zone and shoot the puck as well,” said Sacco. “Sometimes as a young player you’re looking for other options and other players, but I think with [Matt Poitras] it’s that he takes what is given to him off the power play. Don’t force, see what is there and make the play. Use your instincts, that’s why you are getting an opportunity there [on the man advantage].”