Bruins

‘It’s an art’: Brad Marchand delivers vintage pest performance against Maple Leafs in Game 3

"There’s not another player in this series that gets away with that. But he does."

By Conor Ryan

April 25, 2024

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In a fitting testament to his divisive reputation across hockey circles, the discourse surrounding Brad Marchand split into two different narratives on Wednesday night. 

The difference between those accounts? Well, whichever team was speaking into the microphone.

For Marchand’s teammates in black-and-gold sweaters, it was their captain’s two-goal salvo in the third period and his knack for dragging them into the fight that was the focus of their praise. 

“That’s our leader, and he’s a captain through and through,” Jeremy Swayman said postgame after Boston’s 4-2 win in Game 3 against Toronto. “He doesn’t take no for an answer. Leads by example, he’s just a pinnacle of what a captain should be. And we’re so lucky to have him in this room.” 

Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe also offered praise for Marchand — albeit through more of a backhanded approach.

“World-class player, both in ability and how he plays — the gamesmanship and everything,” Keefe noted. “It’s world-class. He’s been in the league long enough. As you can see, he gets calls. It’s unbelievable, actually, how it goes. You’ve got to play through that. 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 (Tyler) Bertuzzi’s legs the way he does. There’s not another player in this series that gets away with that. But he does. It’s an art. He’s elite at it.”

Marchand serves as both the emotional conduit for Boston and an impactful top-six stalwart. But the 35-year-old veteran is still one of the best in the league at serving as the fly in the ointment against the opposition. 

And with his team in need of a lift, Marchand delivered a vintage performance as hockey’s best heel in Boston’s key road win at Scotiabank Arena. 

“I’ve seen it for my whole career,” Jake DeBrusk said of Marchand’s performance. “He’s a guy that scores in very different ways. Some of ‘em are greasy and some of ‘em are snipes. But I feel like the games where he plays the best is when there’s a little bit of a cluster going on around him during the game or sometimes maybe before or after. I think that when he gets in his ‘Little Ball of Hate’ mode, that’s usually when good things happen for this team.”

Marchand’s ascension from fourth-line scrapper to elite winger was put on display Wednesday. After delivering the primary helper on Jake DeBrusk’s power-play goal at 1:07 in the third period, he gave Boston the lead for good nearly 11 minutes later. 

Just 28 seconds after Bertuzzi lit the lamp and knotted the game up at 2-2, Marchand snapped a puck over Ilya Samsonov’s shoulder to put his team ahead.

He also added the empty-netter for good measure, toppling over his former teammate in Bertuzzi during a board battle before depositing the puck into twine with 36 seconds remaining on the clock. 

Along with his three-point performance, Marchand landed six shots on goal over his 18:39 of ice time — with 4:14 of those reps on a penalty-kill unit that went 5-for-5 against Toronto’s high-powered offense.

Boston managed to tilt the ice in its favor whenever Marchand hopped over the boards, with the Bruins holding a 2-0 edge in goals scored and a 19-5 advantage in shot attempts over his 11:52 of 5-on-5 reps. 

“I just think there’s a burning intensity in him to win,” Jim Montgomery said of Marchand. “And he doesn’t care about what just happened. Good or bad. It’s gone. He’s on to what’s next.”

But Marchand impacted Wednesday’s win well beyond what can be measured on the scoresheet. He didn’t get a helper on the play, but Marchand’s extended second-period tussle with Bertuzzi set the stage for Trent Frederic’s tally just seconds later.

Keefe’s pointed postgame comments regarding Marchand revolved around that sequence, with Marchand not whistled for anything as Bertuzzi dropped to the ice. 

Clearly, Marchand’s antics have started to wear on Boston’s first-round foe. 

“He wants to get under our skin and influence the refs, so I think we’ve just got to be composed and not kind of get into that [expletive],” Maple Leafs forward Matthew Knies said of Marchand, per Chris Johnston of The Athletic. “Just play hard and make him (less) effective.”

Marchand may not be the same player who used Daniel Sedin’s face as a speedbag during the 2011 Stanley Cup Final. But the Bruins captain still knows how to get an opponent’s blood boiling when the opportunity arises. 

And on Wednesday, Keefe and the Maple Leafs could only sit and stew as Marchand put his team ahead in their best-of-seven series.

“Burt and I get tied up one shift. But outside of that, I mean, I’m not really in the mix with anything,” Marchand said postgame. “I’m just trying to play and play a good team game. At this time of the year, it gets all emotional. And I’m an emotional player. 

“We have a lot of emotional players on our team. And you need to be able to keep that intact. I thought we’ve done a really good job with that so far as a team. We’re playing hard between the whistles and not getting emotional — we’re not going over that line, so just got to continue that.”