Felger & Mazz: Brad Marchand's Embellishing Makes Bruins Lose Credibility
BOSTON (CBS) - Brad Marchand is not a big, bad Bruin. He is a big, bad actor.
On Tuesday night in Game 3 of the NHL's opening round against the Red Wings, Marchand was on the receiving end of a leg-on-leg hit by Detroit defenseman Brendan Smith. Marchand expressed a significant amount of pain and remained on the ground for an extended period.
The Little Ball Of Hate then skated off the ice favoring his right leg, which was odd for some alert viewers, considering Smith made contact with Marchand's left leg. When asked about the discrepancy after the game Marchand went on the offensive, saying, "That's why they're on Twitter and I'm in the NHL."
On 98.5 The Sports Hub's Felger & Massarotti program, Mike and Tony called out Marchand for the embellishment and admonished his actions, especially with a potential Bruins-Canadiens series waiting in the wings.
"It was a dirty hit by Smith no question, but I think Marchand stayed down, drew more attention to it and was right back out there a shift later flying around like the mosquito he is. Clearly he wasn't hurt," said Tony Mazz to kick off the discussion.
Felger agrees it was a penalty by Smith, and while he's still not taking the Red Wings lightly, if Boston gets by Detroit you have the Montreal Canadiens sitting there waiting for you and this "playing the game the right way" argument would get thrown out the window.
"I know if the Bruins get by this round, next week when we start up against Montreal we're gonna be talking about Montreal [diving] and how it's such a part of their game. I hate it. It ruins it for me. It isn't why I watch sports. It's not about which team can fake out the refs better," said Felger. "I want nothing to do with it. So when one of my guys does it I don't feel any better about it.
"As a Bruins fan I want a clean argument if it's Montreal starting next week. Those are the guys that cheat. Those are the guys that fake it. Those are the guys that play like cowardly international soccer players. That's them -- it's not us. ... I wanna be on the right side of the Boston-Montreal argument. We don't fake. We're not cowards like you. We don't play that game. We're not the bad Little League parents. That's not what we do. But if we've got Brad Marchand on our team are we allowed to do that?" asked Felger.
"You could make the argument, but you'd be a hypocrite," added Mazz.
"If my guy acts like a gutless, cheating, cowardly puke, then I can't call [the Canadiens] a gutless, cheating, cowardly puke -- you'd take away half my arsenal! And I don't want that," said Felger.
However, what Marchand did Tuesday night and what the Canadiens do on a nightly basis are two different things in Marc Bertrand's mind.
"At least in the [Smith] penalty the call was legit, which is a little bit different than Montreal where you breathe on those guys and they're falling down and there really shouldn't be whistles and there are. The call was deserved. It wasn't like he was faking contact that didn't exist. Smith did go after his knee. Smith did stick out his leg," said Beetle.
Listen below for the full discussion:
Marchand's Diving Makes Bruins Lose Credibility
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