Marchand 'Drags Bruins into the Fight,' Notches OT Winner

WASHINGTON - Brad Marchand was a little crispy on Monday night.
Through two periods, the winger twice found himself in the penalty box for extracurricular activity after the whistle as the Capitals appeared to be finding a way to get the Bruins leading scorer off his game - and off the ice.
It was hardly a recipe for success for the Black & Gold, and in years past, Marchand might not have recovered. But at this stage of his career, the 32-year-old knows his value to the team - and sometimes a quick reminder from longtime linemate Patrice Bergeron can get him right back on track.

"Bergy, in situations like that, will grab me and reel me back in like he did," Marchand explained. "That's just part of it. We're on the biggest stage right now. You've got to stay out of the box in these games. I've got to do a little bit better job than I did tonight."
In the end, Marchand did just fine. The winger stayed out of the fray over the final 25-plus minutes of the game and eventually sent the Bruins back to Boston with their first-round series tied at a game apiece after burying the overtime winner just 39 seconds into the extra frame to secure the B's 4-3 victory in Game 2 at Capital One Arena.
"That's who he is. He competes at all times," said Bergeron, who added a goal of his own in the first period. "His will, his want to be the difference is there every time. It's no surprise, to be honest with you."

Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy was hardly concerned about Marchand, despite the winger's penalty troubles during the first half of the game. In fact, Boston's bench boss believes there were some positives in Marchand's feistiness, noting that it might have helped "drag us into the fight" after a slow start.
"I don't worry about March, I think I've told you that," said Cassidy. "He's going to periodically push back. He's in the middle of everything so he's got to defend himself…I've got a lot of faith and trust and loyalty to Brad. There's way, way more good than bad. I think he wanted to drag us into the fight, and we needed it tonight because we didn't start on time.
"Him and Bergy certainly were guys that were going to do that. That's Brad. I think he's matured enough now to not take himself out of the game. Maybe that would have been a game in the past he would've let it get to him, and he wouldn't have been an effective player.
"But he found his game and certainly was a big part of the win with the overtime winner."
Taylor Hall has raved about Marchand since his arriving in Boston at the trade deadline just over a month ago. The former Hart Trophy winner has marveled at Marchand's combination of drive and skill and has drawn inspiration from being able to watch him up close every night. That was no different in Game 2.
"Sometimes you have to see a guy do it for you to know that it can be done," said Hall. "It's not all about goal scoring or scoring points. When he goes in on a forecheck 1-on-2 and comes out with the puck or it seems like the D-men has him and he spins off quickly and settles the play down for us and we're able to have an O-zone shift.
"Those are huge plays for us. There's no stat for that, really. But we see it on the bench and we're able to galvanize and come together when you see a guy do that."

Hall did a bit of that on his own, setting the stage for Marchand's overtime heroics when he tied the game with a greasy net-front tally in the closing minutes. With Boston trailing, 3-2, Hall jammed away at a loose puck in the crease and, eventually, whacked it by Washington goalie Craig Anderson to knot things up with just 2:49 to go in regulation.
"That's something that our group is so good about," said Marchand. "We don't panic throughout games. We have so much character in our room. You can sense it all the way through the bench during the timeouts and in the room. There's a sense of calm when things aren't going our way.
"We have Tuukka [Rask] back there to kind of bail us out in situations like that, gives us a minute to find our game. That's what happened. At this time of the year, it's about competing and that's what we did tonight.
"We found our game there, especially against a tough team. They're really good. You're not gonna dominate a team like that. It's gonna be back and forth, especially in their building. They were loud tonight, and they got some momentum off of that."
But Marchand wasted no time silencing the rowdy Capital One Arena crowd in the opening seconds of overtime. David Krejci started the winning sequence when he settled a puck at the right point and zipped a pass across the blue line to Matt Grzlecyk.
The blue liner quickly delivered a cross-ice feed to Marchand, who ripped home a one-timer from the right-wing circle to end it just 39 seconds in. Per NHL Stats, it was the fastest goal to start a postseason overtime in Bruins history, surpassing Bobby Orr's legendary Stanley Cup winner in Game 4 of the 1970 Stanley Cup Final (40 seconds).

"It's a good feeling to go back 1-1," said Marchand, whose marker was the eighth postseason game-winner of his career, tied with Ricki Middleton and Krejci for third-most in Bruins history behind Cam Neely (11), Bergeron (9) and Phil Esposito (9).
"We obviously went through it last game. It's tough to lose in overtime. It hurts. You battle back, especially the way we did tonight - we just seemed to have it tonight a little bit more than we did last game.
"It was good to get the win. They're hard games, they're playing tough, they're playing physical. They're not giving up a ton. We wanted to win, but doesn't matter how good it feels, the game's over and we have to get ready for the next one."
Marchand did make sure to get his money's worth in the moment as he raced to the bench following the goal, hopped up on to the dasher and fell into Hall's arms as he was swarmed by his teammates.
"That was awesome," said Hall. "Just a lot of relief. Felt like I scored the goal myself there. You could see the smiles on everyone's faces that we had won that game. That's a huge game. Such a huge difference between being down 2-0 and tied 1-1. It was a great shift by him.
"He doesn't weight very much. I've been lifting a lot lately. I guess I was prepared for that."