Bruce Cassidy explained why he has ‘a bit of a problem’ with how certain officials treat Brad Marchand
"He’s earned obviously some of his reputation, but not right now."
Bruce Cassidy believes Brad Marchand’s reputation precedes him. The Bruins head coach recognized that his star winger has earned that notoriety over the years, but noted Marchand has kept his nose clean in the playoffs and should not be officiated based on his past on-ice behavior.
The Columbus Blue Jackets have kept Marchand off the scoresheet thus far in the second-round series. Marchand, who was certainly accounted for (two goals and an assist) in the Bruins’ win-or-golf Game 6 victory over Toronto, managed to keep himself out of the penalty box until Saturday night.
“I think our power play didn’t execute to the level it should. You might not score but it’s been pretty good all year at finding itself…We want to make sure we correct it.”
🎥#NHLBruins head coach Bruce Cassidy talks ways to boost the power play and the extra rest day: pic.twitter.com/2OGJRDQYti
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Then a shoving match broke out at the end of the first period, and Marchand was the only player sent to the box. He watched Artemi Panarin tie the game on the power play for cross-checking.
The Bruins head coach defended Marchand on Sunday.
“Marchie’s a competitive guy. I think that narrative gets out there,” Cassidy told reporters, per the Boston Herald. “Marchie had no penalty minutes in the playoffs before [Saturday] night. None. Zero. Leading scorer on our team. All of a sudden I’ve got people in the NHL [saying] ‘keep an eye on him.’ What are you talking about? Why are you going down this road on a guy that’s kept his nose clean?”
Cassidy referred to an incident in overtime of Game 1, when Marchand stomped on Blue Jackets winger Cam Atkinson’s stick as the pair waited for a faceoff. No penalty was called. Atkinson called Marchand a “professional magician” after the game and demanded $300 to replace the stick.
“Atkinson, all he cared about was his 300 bucks,” Cassidy said. “We can arrange it. He said it was a clever play, so the victim of this perpetrated crime is not really upset.”
He continued:
I don’t like the [crosschecking] penalty personally. Is it a cross check. Is it a scrum? Generally in a scrum, you take one from each side. They’ve got a guy [Oliver Bjorkstrand] grabbing [Torey] Krug and obviously wants to get him off the ice for five minutes, and the ref’s going to go and break them up.
So I have a bit of a problem with the treatment of Marchie with certain officials. He’s earned obviously some of his reputation, but not right now. He’s been clean all year. He’s been clean all playoffs. So I hope that would go away and I would hope the talk would be about ‘Hey he hasn’t scored in [three] games, what can we do to get him going there?’ More like [David] Pastrnak. I think Marchie’s generated, they just haven’t gone in, so that would be my answer to that part of it.
Anyway, here we are with March again, talking about him and his two penalty minutes in nine playoff games.
Cassidy gave his players a full day off Sunday. When asked for advice on how to spend a hockey-free day, he responded, “Fortnite. Fortnite all day. Watch the Celtics at 1 p.m. It should be a great game.”
The Bruins renew acquaintances with the Blue Jackets on Tuesday at 7 p.m.
