Brad Marchand will not play in Sunday night’s Game 4 against the Florida Panthers. According to WEEI’s Rich Keefe, he is in concussion protocol. He may miss Game 5 on Tuesday as well.
Marchand was sucker-punched by Panthers center Sam Bennett early in Game 3. The Bruins, like just about everyone else, did not realize exactly what had happened during the game. In the two days since, they have seen all the video evidence that the rest of us have. Understandably, they are not happy with Bennett.
“I think it pisses off everyone,” Trent Frederic told reporters Sunday morning. “I think this whole team kind of ticks everyone off, to be honest.”
So, how do the Bruins avenge their captain? The old-school hockey fan will say it’s eye-for-an-eye. Take out Bennett, or take out Florida’s captain, Aleksander Barkov.
It’s not that simple, though. This isn’t the regular season, when maybe it’s worth it to take a couple penalties or even a five-minute major in order to send a message. This is Game 4 of the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Bruins trail 2-1 in the series, and they gave up four power-play goals in Game 3. They cannot afford to hand out power plays or give away a game just to get revenge.
Frederic, one of the Bruins’ toughest players and one of the guys most likely to seek revenge, knows all of that.
“It’s a really fine line,” Frederic said. “I’m sure all these refs are aware of what happened the last three games, what happened last game, and it’s not gonna be like… in a great world, we can just go do something about it and be fair, eyeball-for-an-eyeball. But sometimes that’s not exactly how it works. You just have to find your spot.”
Pavel Zacha, a big body but not an overly physical player, said that at the very least, the Bruins have to finish their checks on Florida’s top players, and finish them hard.
“We have to really go after their top guys and let them know that’s not OK,” Zacha said. “To go after our captain, that’s not OK with us. We’re ready to be physical again today and be a little bit harder on them.”
Avenging Marchand is one thing. Then there’s also the matter of the Bruins replacing him. There’s no one player who can do that, so it’s going to need to be a full team effort. The Bruins’ other leaders, namely alternate captains Charlie McAvoy and David Pastrnak, need to be at their best on and off the ice.
Marchand has been the Bruins’ leading scorer this postseason with 10 points in 10 games. Jake DeBrusk (8 points) needs to continue to step up. More is needed from the likes of Zacha (0 goals, 5 points) and Charlie Coyle (4 points).
The Bruins could get something of a boost with the return of Danton Heinen. Coach Jim Montgomery said the winger is an option to play Sunday after missing the last five games with an undisclosed injury. Heinen’s 17 goals in the regular season ranked seventh on the team, but he had just one point in five playoff games before missing time.
“That’s an opportunity for guys to step up,” Coyle said Saturday. “We can do that. You see Toronto do that against us earlier with [Auston] Matthews out. They come together and throw together a couple good games without him. So, it’s just an opportunity for us. I think you’ll see guys take on more responsibility and opportunity and rise to that occasion. We do it together.”
According to the Boston Herald’s Steve Conroy, Linus Ullmark, Derek Forbort, Kevin Shattenkirk, Matt Grzelcyk and Jesper Boqvist were the last players on the ice after Sunday’s optional morning skate. That is usually the indication that those are the scratches, or backup goalie in Ullmark’s case.
However, Forbort was still skating with Andrew Peeke on the third defense pairing at Saturday’s practice, and Montgomery seemingly dropped a hint that Ullmark might start Game 4 when he was asked what would go into the decision.
“The thinking and factoring is, we talked about we had a plan at the beginning, and it always considered that our goalies are not used to playing consecutive games in a short amount of time,” Montgomery said. “So, that’s factoring into the decision tonight.”
We’ll find out for sure who the starting goalie is and what the Bruins’ lines and pairings look like when they hit the ice for warmups at approximately 6 p.m. Sunday, ahead of a 6:30 puck drop.
Here is how the Bruins lined up at Saturday’s practice, according to The Athletic’s Fluto Shinzawa: