Kalman: Marchand's Late Goal Saves The Day For Bruins In Win Over Maple Leafs
BOSTON (CBS) -- There was some monkey business going on at TD Garden on Saturday.
Bruins forward Brad Marchand scored his first goal in 12 games at 7:23 of the third period to give the Bruins a 3-2 lead against the Toronto Maple Leafs. But Toronto coach Mike Babcock challenged whether the Bruins were offside before the goal.
"It was tough. It was nice that I felt like I had the monkey off my back there," Marchand said after the game. "And then to kind of have it taken away, which we thought it was a little close and they could've let it go either way. But it was good to get that one at the end."
The video review overturned the goal because Marchand had entered the zone offside with his back skate in the air and the score reverted to 2-2. As it turned out, the monkey was back on his back.
But then Maple Leafs goaltender Jonathan Bernier and defenseman Martin Marincin combined to help extract that primate from Marchand's rear. Marincin made a bad pass up the left wall, Marchand one-timed the puck from near the half wall and Bernier was late getting back to his crease. The puck entered the net with 47 seconds left and the Bruins had a 3-2 victory.
"It felt really good. I'm not going to lie," said Marchand, whose 16 goals are one behind Patrice Bergeron for the team lead. "It's been a little while and it was frustrating having that one called back, especially when we thought we were going to have the lead with 10 minutes left. But I thought we played really well after that and it was great we were able to get the win."
Everyone likes a vacation but it's difficult when you're the only one sent away, especially when you don't get to sit under a palm tree and chill. Marchand's three-game suspension for low-bridging Ottawa's Mark Borowiecki Dec. 29 lasted nearly two weeks. He was able to practice and watch the Bruins struggle without him. But his game legs were late returning from the unwanted midseason break.
Marchand had been point-less in four games before Saturday. He showed signs of life in the win against Buffalo on Friday with five shots on net. Then he started to assert himself more physically during the early stages of the Toronto game. At 3:09 of the first period he earned coincident high-sticking minors with Toronto defenseman Jake Gardiner. Later in the first he was called was high-sticking Joffrey Lupul on the forecheck.
The pesky Marchand was back but the Bruins needed the Marchand that also scores goal. He did it twice and one counted. Maybe now he has something to build off of.
"Any time you have almost two weeks off you definitely get out of sync," Marchand said. "I was in a groove there for a bit and when you get out you lose a little bit of your legs and that confidence. I felt a lot better last night and even more tonight. So hopefully it can continue."
Matt Kalman covers the Bruins for CBSBoston.com and also contributes to NHL.com and several other media outlets. Follow him on Twitter @TheBruinsBlog.
