Amazingly but not surprisingly, a false narrative about Boston Bruins winger Brad Marchand formed by the Toronto media has taken on a life of its own heading into Game 4.
Shortly after the Boston Bruins captain scored the empty-net goal to put the Bruins up 4-2 with 36 seconds left in Game 3, a video caught Marchand skating towards his bench yelling what some apparent professional lip readers deciphered as ‘It’s over in 5!’ and within minutes of the final horn, the video went viral on social media.
Sportsnet also tweeted the video but has since deleted it. However, that hasn’t stopped the Maple Leafs fan base from grabbing onto this narrative as bulletin board material for their team that now finds themselves on the brink of going down 3-1 in this Eastern Conference quarterfinal series. Well, Boston Hockey Now has now confirmed that Brad Marchand did not say what so many are claiming but rather yelled to his teammates, “It’s over in 35,” as in 35 seconds left on the clock when he scored his second goal of the game to seal the win. Yes, he was off by one second, but anyone who has watched this series closely would’ve known how much of a 180 that would’ve been for Marchand, who has walked the line of being team captain and the ultimate pest perfectly. I explained this on the latest Eye Test Podcast with my co-host Pierre McGuire:
Since the opening faceoff of this series, Marchand hasn’t bit on the constant goading from Maple Leafs wingers Max Domi and Tyler Bertuzzi to engage in the shenanigans that Marchand was infamous for the last time the Maple Leafs and Boston Bruins met in the Stanley Cup Playoffs in 2018 and 2019.
Instead, Marchand has let Domi and Bertuzzi take the undisciplined penalties and played the passive aggressive game.
Marchand’s mastery of the pest game and ability to not let his actions hurt his team even led to Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe suggesting that Marchand, who BHN can confirm is still very much on the watchlist for NHL officials and the Department of Player Safety, is a master at drawing penalties on the opposition.
“He’s been in the league long enough, as you can see, and he gets calls,” Keefe claimed. “It’s unbelievable actually how it goes. But we gotta play through that; we gotta play through that stuff. I don’t think there’s another player in this series who gets away with taking away other players’ legs the way that he does. There’s not one other player who gets away with that in this series, but he does. It’s an art, and he’s elite at it.
So, we have to manage our way through that and avoid putting ourselves in situations where he can. …he can. …he’ll put us into spots, and as far as his game, I think we’ve managed that pretty well for the most part. Obviously, tonight, we make a mistake at key time that allows him to get the winner.”
So unlike the popular narrative has indicated for since late Wednesday night, the Maple Leafs don’t have any golden bul;letin board material from Marchand and the Bruins.
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