BOSTON – Let this be an ominous warning to the rest of the NHL: the offensive onslaught from Brad Marchand doesn’t look like it’s going to subside anytime soon.
The Bruins left winger scored the tying goal and then set up Patrice Bergeron’s third-period winner in a 2-1 comeback win over the New Jersey Devils at TD Garden Thursday night, adding to his NHL-leading nine points (three goals, six assists) that sees him in a tie with San Jose Sharks D-man Brent Burns.
It’s been quite a line of progression from a player with a bit of a checkered reputation who started out on Boston’s fourth line Gregory Campbell and Shawn Thornton in the B’s Stanley Cup season, but then took off once he was teamed with Patrice Bergeron and Mark Recchi halfway through that season.
“You could see the talent, you could see that he had the great shot, the great release, I thought he was a good skater. I mean he has improved and he has grown as a player no doubt. But the biggest thing that I think was holding him back was that balance that he needed between being more or less a pest and getting under other people’s skin, and using his skill level and being the player he could be,” said Claude Julien. “I think that he has found that in the last few years and become a very respectable player around the league and people now notice how good he is when it comes to the skill level and what he can do as far as being in the game, being a game changer and scoring some goals at opportune times.”
Marchand has now scored in all four games for the Bruins this season and has picked up right where he left off a couple of weeks ago as the leading scorer for Team Canada in the World Cup of Hockey tournament.
The momentum from that tournament, and the confidence boost from skating on the best forward line there that featured the best players in the world, clearly has Marchand taking his game to a star level that he was just scratching while scoring a whopping 37 goals last season.
“I think there’s times where confidence level is high. Right now, I do feel good. I just feel I have a step ahead of where I normally am coming into the season. I think a lot of that is attributed to the World Cup [of Hockey],” said Marchand. “Obviously, it’s such a high level and you’re playing with such speed for a whole month. So I’m feeling really good. I kind of feel like I’m in midseason form when, most seasons, it takes 10 to 12 games to feel that way.
Boston Bruins
“Hopefully things continue to go the right way. I’m getting some good bounces and Pasta [Pastrnak] is on fire right now, and Bergy [Patrice Bergeron] is always going to be Bergy. I’m playing with some very good players.”
Clearly, the confidence is high when he scores a goal as filthy as the tying strike on Thursday night. Marchand wheeled through the neutral zone with speed, and then fired a shot from the right face-off circle right through Andy Greene’s legs and tucked inside the far post past a stretched out Cory Schneider. It’s the kind of thing that only the NHL’s best offensive players even attempt, and only the very best can execute with a little puck luck on their side.
“It is tough to get shots through, but if you get it off quick and through a screen, it’s going to go in at times. When it’s kind of quick, in stride, through the legs, that’s a tough one to stop and a tough one to see,” said Marchand. “That was a bit of a lucky bounce I think. I thought it went off the post, replay showed it going off the back of his knob. So you shoot the puck and good things happen.”
Good things continue to happen for Marchand as he rides out a hot streak and realizes the massive potential on a line that contains No. 63, Bergeron and ascending 20-year-old star talent David Pastrnak wreaking havoc at the offensive end of the ice.