Will verbal war fuel ill will between Bruins and Rangers?

The Rangers and Bruins don’t meet again until mid-January, which begs the question: Will this verbal firestorm drudge up some extra ill will for when these teams meet up again?

Sure, there is plenty of hockey in between now and then, and everyone’s tempers might cool by then. Then again, the sniping by the coaches could fuel trash talk from the players, and suddenly there's a midseason contest packed with fisticuffs that all started with Lundqvist taking a knee to the head in November.

Then there is this is a situation involving Brad Marchand, whose NHL.com profile might as well say “agitator” in place of where he is listed as a left wing.

According to DJ Bean of WEEI, Marchand told the media at B’s practice on Sunday that Vigneault’s commentary won’t affect how Boston and New York play each other, saying: “He’s not out there playing, so it’s not really going to affect anything."

Of course, that could be a lie. As Joe Haggerty of CSNNE pointed out, the Bruins might have told Marchand to suppress his natural urge to say anything snarky:

“On Sunday following Bruins practice, Marchand was queried about what his parents thought about Vigneault’s sentiments. The Bruins agitator kept it completely tame in his response, but it wasn’t difficult to see there was a whole mess of commentary bubbling underneath the surface of what Marchand actually said.”

For the sake of chippy hockey and delightful side stories, hopefully that commentary bubbles over and makes for an extra mean-spirited tilt on Jan. 11.