Off-ice 'mess' between David Pastrnak and Brad Marchand gets bad for Bruins

"First of all, what we can all see is that they’re a mess on the ice, right? They’ve lost six in a row. But what I’m hearing is they’re also a mess off the ice. Apparently, the locker room is a disaster," Keefe noted.

He added that Pastrnak is at the center of that and has told the team he doesn’t want to be on a line with Marchand. Speculation is that it stems from Marchand calling out Pastrnak for some of his undisciplined and lazy play throughout the year.

While Pastrnak is the team’s leading scorer and a 60-goal guy, the main reason why it is a disaster inside the locker room is that he doesn’t want to play with Marchand, and they’re not playing together (outside of some power-play time). Keefe said the coach doesn’t have to do everything the player says, but it appears he’s trying to split them up.

Keefe’s co-host said this kind of thing was on brand for the team as players have been called out in the past, Pastrnak a couple of times by former coach Jim Montgomery. They joked that Marchand was maybe a little mean to Pastrnak because he’d done something stupid in the defensive end or whatever else and it got called out. The hosts suggested he sometimes deserves to be called out for the plays he’s making.

The short-handed goal against this week was cited as one of the main reasons the Bruins have lost five in a row. 

"Maybe you can chalk it up as a player trying to do too much, or you can chalk it up to a player who just doesn’t care," said Jones.

Now what for the Bruins?

This has not been a good season for the Bruins, and it’s easy to see how locker-room drama can take on a life of its own in the NHL. Just look at what’s happening with the Canucks.

Does that mean a trade is coming? It could. There was already talk of the Bruins potentially needing to make changes. But, would the Bruins be willing to trade Pastrnak? He’s the team’s top forward.

Like in Vancouver, where J.T. Miller is a vocal leader, Marchand isn’t afraid to speak his mind in Boston. Like Elias Pettersson, the assumption here is that Pastrnak is being overly sensitive. Can these two make up and get back to trying to win hockey games?