Marchand Delivers After Day of Uncertainty

BOSTON - For much of the day, there was uncertainty surrounding Brad Marchand's status for Thursday night's tilt with the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Marchand and the rest of the Bruins were awaiting word from the NHL's Department of Player Safety, which was deciding the winger's fate after he committed a dangerous trip on Detroit's Niklas Kronwall in Boston's overtime win Tuesday night.

After a morning hearing with the league, all the Bruins' leading scorer could do was wait. Word finally came down early in the afternoon that Marchand would only face a hefty fine and be eligible to play against the Penguins.
The Bruins could not have been happier with that development, particularly after the game, as Marchand tallied his second consecutive two-goal game and ignited Boston's come-from-behind, 4-3 victory over the Penguins at TD Garden.
"It was good to kind of let it go and kind of put it behind me," said Marchand, who was handed a $10,000 fine, the maximum penalty allowed under the CBA. "You know, you can't change anything after it all goes down, so it was great to come out here and play the game, have some fun, and be part of a big win. It was a good night."
The stellar performance helped propel the Bruins to their second straight victory - Boston's first set of consecutive wins since Dec. 29-31 - an important accomplishment heading into the All-Star Break.
"You have to stand here and give them credit for how they grinded it out tonight and pushed hard," said Bruins coach Claude Julien. "Those days, I hope, will help our team. February has a lighter schedule, so obviously teams are going to catch up with some of the games that they haven't had.
"Hopefully we can make the most of what's coming up here and keep winning some games here so that we can at least stay with the bunch."

Marchand kicked off the Bruins' comeback with one of his signature shorthanded tallies. Kevan Miller started the play with a strong defensive effort at Boston's blue line, knocking the puck to Patrice Bergeron.
Bergeron picked up the puck and sent a pass to Marchand that bounced off the boards in the neutral zone, where Marchand collected the puck and soared in all alone on Penguins goalie Matt Murray. Marchand then fired a shot that beat Murray five-hole and brought the Bruins within 2-1 at 1:38 of the second.
It was Marchand's third shorthanded goal of the season, tying him with the Rangers' J.T. Miller for the league lead. The marker also gave him his sixth career 20-goal season.
"Marchy's goal really gave us momentum that we needed and kind of made us relax a bit and play our game," said Bergeron.
Marchand was back at it just under five minutes later, when he slammed home a rebound off a David Pastrnak one-timer to tie the game, 2-2. He now has 11 goals in the last 11 games, after scoring just 10 in the season's first 41 contests.

"We're working together well, we're finding that groove of where we have to play and how we have to play," said Marchand, who has a team-leading 21 goals on the season. "You know, we're getting some bounces too, which helps, and it's great that guys are stepping up at the right times and helping the team.
"That's what we need. We need guys and our line to produce, and we did a decent job of that."
Riley Nash potted the go-ahead goal four minutes later and Patrice Bergeron followed up with a power-play tally - the eventual winner - just 51 seconds into the third. Bergeron's goal came after Colin Miller's takedown of Scott Wilson with 48 seconds left in the second. Wilson received an extra penalty for instigating which led to the Bruins' man advantage.
"The guys did a really good job in showing their character in the second period and stepping up," said Marchand. "[David] Backes was all over them. Millsy had a phenomenal fight…just guys as a whole, as a team, we were being physical, we were being tight.
"And that's how we have to play. We have to play with that emotion, you know. It really drives our team."

Carlo Leaves With Lower-Body Injury

Bruins defenseman Brandon Carlo left the game in the third period with a lower-body injury and did not return. His status after the game was uncertain.
"I don't know, actually. I really don't know," said Julien. "For some reason I didn't even see what happened to him, and first thing I found out from our trainers was that he wasn't coming back."
After having Pittsburgh's first goal deflect off his stick and being in the box for the Penguins' second goal, Carlo rebounded nicely. The rookie blueliner was on the ice for Marchand's first goal and had an assist on Marchand's second tally to end the game as a plus-1.

"We need to be patient with some young players and the mistake he made, it goes off his stick and it spins in the net and you know, probably not a good penalty to take, but what I like about Brandon Carlo - and I said that before - he comes out in the second period and we get in a bit of a scramble there at the beginning and he blocks a big shot that probably saves a goal," said Julien.
"He redeems himself. He works hard to redeem himself and so as much as we've got to live sometimes with some young mistakes, we like the fact that he doesn't hang his head and he comes back and plays hard and really tries to redeem himself and he does that most of the time."