Marchand picks up where he left off in Bruins win against Red Wings

BOSTON -- In theory, Brad Marchand still had a month of recovery to go.

But if there's anything that's been clear about the Boston Bruins forward over his 14-season NHL career, it's that theories don't generally apply.
Instead of late November, the announced likely return date for Marchand, he returned Thursday, more than a month ahead of schedule, slotted in beside security blanket Patrice Bergeron against the Detroit Red Wings at TD Garden. And he returned with a vengeance with three points, including two power-play goals,
in a 5-1 win
that pushed the Bruins to 7-1-0 on the season.
"I thought he was a world-class player," Boston coach Jim Montgomery said of his first chance to see Marchand up close. "Coaching with him today confirmed that he's a world-class player.
"It's amazing how he comes up with pucks. The puck's in between three bodies, and he's like a little Tasmanian devil. He's twirling all around and the puck just seems to follow him. It's amazing. But he tracks it. He fights for it. He'll bite your leg off for it."
When told his new coach had said that of him, Marchand quipped, "It wouldn't just be to get the puck. It'd really be for anything."
But, he added, "It was just the excitement of being out there. Your adrenaline level is very high."

The Bruins have now gotten back two of the three big names who were scheduled to miss the start of the season; defenseman Matt Grzelcyk returned from offseason shoulder surgery Oct. 20, also ahead of schedule. Defenseman Charlie McAvoy remains out after having surgery on his left shoulder June 3. His timeline for recovery was six months.
"It's not just one game, there's a pretty long history of Brad being an impactful player for us in all situations, and it just goes to show how hard the player himself is willing to work and compete and get himself arguably at least a month in front of what the timeline was," Boston general manager Don Sweeney said. "The doctors were never going to clear him until they felt 100 percent comfortable.
"Brad would be the first to tell you he wants to play tomorrow (against the Columbus Blue Jackets), but you've got to put the reins on him a little bit. Just an incredibly impactful player in all facets of the game. We missed him."
Sweeney and Montgomery each said Marchand will not play against the Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena in Columbus on Friday (7 p.m. ET; NHLN, BSOH, NESN, SN NOW) in the second half of a back to back. That was planned going in. It's a luxury the Bruins will be able to keep up, with only one more back to back (Nov. 12-13) until just before Christmas.
For Marchand, the game against the Red Wings was -- as he revealed earlier in the day -- regarded internally as the best-case scenario for him to play after having a hip arthroscopy and labral repair on both hips May 27, even though on Wednesday both he and Montgomery said playing Thursday wasn't an option. But there he was, taking the ice.
In his first game since May 14, Marchand knew his timing would be the last part to come, something that was never going to be fully worked out in practice. For that, he needed games.
"You could tell he was a little rusty in the beginning," Montgomery said. "He wasn't handling pucks cleanly. Then, boy, the last 30 minutes, that was special. And the power play was special."

Marchand finished with 17:31 of ice time, though Montgomery joked that he barely played him in the third period. And, had the game been closer, that time on ice number may have crept toward 19.
He didn't need to, though. The Bruins, Marchand included, took care of that.
"It felt good," he said. "It took me a little bit just to get the timing back and I was rushing a few plays that I think I'd normally hold onto a little bit more. Just a couple of pucks at my feet that I didn't pick up that I would normally have. You normally have exhibition games in the regular season to get that out, but it's my first time doing it in the regular season.
"All in all, it doesn't matter as long you win. I could have played terrible tonight [and] I'd still be happy. But [there's] definitely room for improvement. I didn't have my best game."
Yet, he still had three points.
He did give Montgomery kudos for the second of his two power-play goals. The first one had come at 11:53 of the second period, putting the Bruins up 2-0, on a shot from the left face-off circle. After Adam Erne narrowed the lead to 2-1, Marchand got his second on a rebound in front of the net at 2:55 of the third period.
"I've got to give 'Monty' credit, actually," he said. "Before the game, he told me to shoot low glove. I tried to go high glove in the first period and he kind of came by and kind of nodded at me, like, 'Hey, I said low glove.' Sure enough, it worked. Don't worry, he took credit for that."
It had been six or seven years since Marchand played without pain in his legs, groin and hips. So, just to get out on the ice and not worry about how he might feel was a victory.
"It feels great to get through a game and not have to worry about potentially hurting something throughout the game," he said. "I felt so good with that. I hope I feel like that tomorrow. … I should. We took the steps we need to and have been very careful about progression throughout it all."