Marchand Notches 400th Goal as Bruins Take Down Carolina

RALEIGH – Brad Marchand was trying not to think about what he called the “elephant in the room.” For the better part of a month, the Boston captain was sitting on 399 career goals, leaving his latest milestone marker tantalizing close.

But at times over the past 10 games, it felt much farther away.

That finally changed on Thursday night as Marchand buried the 400^th goal of his remarkable career while helping pace the Bruins to an impressive 4-1 win over the Carolina Hurricanes at PNC Arena to close out a six-game road stretch.

“It was good. Lately, trying not to think about it, but obviously it was kind of the elephant in the room,” said Marchand. “Nice to get it and not have to worry about it anymore. But it’s nice that we had a really good game to follow it up and a big road trip. It’s a good night.”

Marchand became the fifth player in Bruins history to hit the 400-goal mark, joining Johnny Bucyk (545), Phil Esposito (459), Patrice Bergeron (427), and Rick Middleton (402).

“It’s an amazing accomplishment to get 400 goals in this league,” said coach Jim Montgomery. “It speaks about longevity, it speaks about your ability to make a tremendous amount of plays over the course of your career. There’s a guy that has been doubted his whole life and all he keeps doing is putting out any doubts in anyone’s mind about how great an athlete he is and great a hockey player and Bruin he is.”

Marchand’s milestone marker came after a backhanded breakout from Charlie Coyle along the wall to Morgan Geekie, who then found the B’s captain with an outlet pass through the neutral zone. Marchand broke in behind the Carolina defensemen and sneaked a backhander through the five-hole of Hurricanes goalie Freddie Andersen as he was pushed into the netminder by blue line Brent Burns to give Boston a 1-0 lead just 2:21 into the first.

Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour appeared to be contemplating a challenge for goalie interference as he briefly spoke to the officials, but opted to play on, sealing Marchand’s historic tally.

“Just so happy for him,” said Jeremy Swayman, who made 28 saves in the victory. “He’s worked so hard. I couldn’t be luckier to be a part of it and seeing what he does every day on and off the ice being a true leader. He’s one of those guys that doesn’t have to preach. You do whatever he does and you’re gonna be OK. Extremely happy for him and grateful that he’s on our team and not playing against him every night.”

The game-opening goal was one of three that Boston scored in the first period, a dominant opening frame that also included tallies from David Pastrnak and Dantno Heinen as the Bruins put forth a relentless offensive attack with a bevy of odd-man opportunities.

“Definitely something we had talked about,” said Marchand. “They’re such a really good forechecking team, they don’t usually give up much and always a very tough game in here. I think we were just mentally prepared to play tonight. We knew how tough it would be. We were excited for the challenge. Guys did a great job.

“Biggest thing I think was winning board battles. A lot of [the rushes] came from guys getting a puck off a wall on a pinch and making a play under pressure. In that type of system, if you can catch a guy going the wrong way, take advantage of it and we did that.”

Montgomery said that the Bruins’ success at the other end of the ice stemmed from clean breakouts.

“Really pleased with tonight’s win,” he said. “A team that was 8-1-1 and has been playing really well. I thought in the first period we executed really well, caught them on some odd-man rushes, made some high-end plays led by our Captain and our leading goal scorer.

“I think us executing our breakouts with a lot of speed and a lot of purpose and forwards are running good routes to get to the areas we thought the pucks would be available.”

A Real Good Roadie

Boston finished their six-game swing away from TD Garden with a 4-2-0 record, an impressive feat given that each contest came against teams currently in the playoff structure – and the last two in Nashville and Carolina against teams that have been among the hottest in the league over the past month.

“I think it’s a great momentum builder for our team going into this last stretch and preparing us for what’s to come,” said Swayman. “Really happy with how the guy’s responded from travel and these late-season games. Really exciting to see the way we’re pushing right now.”

Marchand said that the recent road challenge was exactly what the Black & Gold needed to face as the postseason approaches.

“You have to be able to win on the road,” said Marchand. “All these teams that we’re playing right now are tough and they’re playoff ready, playoff bound. It’s a great challenge every night. It’s the way you want to play, you want to play these tough games going down the stretch and getting prepared. It’s not gonna get any easier. So, it’s good for us right now.”

Wait, There’s More

• Pastrnak’s 47^th goal of the season came at 7:42 of the first when he corralled a pass from Pavel Zacha with his skate, shifted down into the corner, and then broke toward the net. As the winger stopped, the Carolina defenders began to back off, allowing Pastrnak plenty of room to surge to the net and roof one over the shoulder of Andersen. “Honestly, I was looking what’s open and just was going to the net,” said Pastrnak. “Tried to make a quick move to the forehand to move Andersen towards far-side and it worked out perfectly…a little bit, a little miscommunication on that. It was nice to get the goal. At first, I felt a lot of pressure on me but later on it kind of froze them up and a lane opened up towards the net.”
• Pastrnak was it again just 3:04 later when he fed Danton Heinen with a beautiful cross-slot feed to make it 3-0. The assist gave Pastrnak his 36^th multi-point game of the season, which is the most by a Bruin in a single season since Adam Oates’ 46- 1992-93 and eighth-highest total in a season in Bruins history, per NHL Stats. “I had a great lane in the middle, so I was gonna shoot it but as soon as I whiffed on it, it went a little bit farther out of the shooting lane,” said Pastrnak. “I knew that [Charlie] McAvoy was going that route so I was aiming it to him and Heino kept flying and buried it.”
• Johnny Beecher dropped the gloves with Jack Drury at 14:10 of the first period, giving the Bruins even more of a spark. “Johnny did an incredible job,” said Marchand. “He answered the bell and did a great job. Obviously energized the entire building but we fed off that as well. That’s one of those things that can be a momentum changer and we didn’t let it affect us.”
• Swayman won three consecutive games during the road swing, securing victories in Florida, Washington, and Carolina, while allowing just six goals on 70 shots. He has now tied his career-high of 24 victories set last season. “I think the guys in front of me are doing a great job of boxing out, allowing me to see first shot and I’m just trying to do my job with putting rebounds in bad areas, well good areas for me, bad areas for them. And just trying to do my job, make that first save,” said Swayman.
• Carolina’s lone goal came during a 5-on-3 situation with 4:48 left in the second period, but the Hurricanes were unable to pull any closer. “We just kept going, kept pushing, even when we got down on the PK, they scored that goal but we were able to regroup and finish the game the right way,” said Marchand.