Marchand has his way with the Habs, that's for sure. He recorded a hat trick this past January at TD Garden when Montreal came to town, and came up just one shy on the road Monday night. A lot of things go into the becoming the type of player that is Brad Marchand, one of which is doing your homework. "He's a student of the game," said Cassidy. "Trust me, if you ask him questions, he follows hockey and he works on details and sees what other players do."
The B's and Marchand did struggle a bit with puck possession, one turnover on the power play almost costing the game early in the third period. "There were a few careless plays from Brad and from our whole group," said Cassidy. "But we were able to overcome that basis, but that was a big step forward."
For Marchand, a bad taste in his mouth was left over from the play early in the third period, a turnover that resulted in Montreal scoring shorthanded for a 2-1 lead at 1:13 of the finale frame. But Connor Clifton came to the rescue, scoring his first goal in 31 games off a nifty feed from Craig Smith to knot things at 2 with 2:59 remaining in regulation.
"I owe good ole Cliffy dinner for that one," said Marchand. "Bailing me out there, it was a terrible play on my behalf, so very happy that he bailed me out of that one."
The overtime winner, which came just 34 seconds into overtime, was pure skill. A great pass from Erik Haula to hit Marchand coming up from behind gave Marchand the room to fool Montreal goalie Jake Allen with a forehand-to-backhand move to grab his second of the night and send the B's home happy. Marchand was just glad he got that one back, after an impressive save on his one timer by Allen in the second period. "I wanted to score a little bit extra because of that save, so luckily it went in," said Marchand.
Marchand's first goal of the game was his 345th career goal which moves him into sole possession of sixth place in franchise history.
