Bruins offer latest on captain Brad Marchand and his status moving forward
It turns out that the Bruins will have to play at least one game without captain Brad Marchand, as the Bruins have confirmed that Marchand will indeed miss Sunday’s Game 4 at TD Garden.
Confirmation of Marchand’s absence came courtesy of Jim Montgomery following Boston’s optional morning skate, and on the heels of Marchand missing Saturday’s practice at Warrior ice Arena.
Speaking with reporters, Montgomery kept Marchand’s status as “day-to-day,” and though he refused to confirm whether or not Marchand sustained a concussion on the Sam Bennett punch that took him out of Boston’s Game 3 loss after two periods, Montgomery did provide a seemingly positive update on Marchand and his ability to be with the team right now.
“Brad’s in the team meetings,” Montgomery revealed. “He’s doing well. It’s day to day.”
The fact that Marchand, who ‘celebrated’ his 36th birthday yesterday, is around the team is an encouraging sign. And not that the Bruins should need added motivation for a playoff game, but his presence and the idea of fighting for their captain is something that Montgomery does not expect to be lost on his squad entering what they hope is a series-tying Game 4 head-to-head.
“It can be, has been, and it should be [galvanizing for us] with who our captain is,” Montgomery said. “We’ve spoke, but we didn’t speak particularly to Brad being out. We just spoke what we need to accomplish tonight. They know what to do.”
With Marchand out, Danton Heinen is expected to draw back into action for the Bruins, while the Bruins have also discussed going with a potential 11-forward, 7-defenseman look for tonight’s contest.
Bruins Game-Breaker: From momentum to disaster in second period
The Bruins had life.
It was only 1-0. Goaltender Jeremy Swayman had just made a massive save to snuff out a 2-on-1 rush. They kept the puck in the Panthers’ end for 1:11 straight at one point. They forechecked, they stayed strong on the puck, strong along the boards, strong at the blue line.
But all it took was one play at the other end to extinguish the Bruins’ momentum. Defenseman Mason Lohrei ran his stick up too high on the Panthers’ Steven Lorentz, and gave him a fat lip. So, referee Dan O’Rourke did his dental exam and slapped Lohrei with a four-minute penalty.
Less than four minutes later, the game was effectively out of reach.
That devastating sequence in the second period of the Bruins’ Game 3 loss to the Panthers essentially decided things. The B’s were able to pick it back up for much of the third period, at one point cutting the Panthers’ lead from four down to two, but it was too little, too late.
