BOSTON — Brad Marchand watched the final minutes of Monday’s loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets from the TD Garden dressing room after a controversial misconduct call forced him into an early exit.
With the Bruins trailing by two goals with just under five minutes remaining in the third period, Marchand was called for playing the puck with a high stick in the offensive zone. Visibly frustrated, he fired the puck into the end boards, well to the right of the Columbus net, after the whistle.
This reaction earned the winger a 10-minute misconduct penalty, forcing the Bruins to proceed without their leading goal-scorer as they mounted an ultimately unsuccessful comeback bid.
This warranted a 10 minute misconduct, apparently pic.twitter.com/BmtiPgRlPQ
— Garden Grizzlies (@GardenGrizzlies) February 23, 2016
Loui Eriksson scored less than a minute-and-a-half later to bring Boston to within one, but Dalton Prout followed with an empty-netter to put the finishing touches on a 6-4 win for the visiting Blue Jackets.
Bruins coach Claude Julien had little to say about the misconduct when asked about it after the game.
“No comments on that stuff,” Julien said. “Doesn’t matter, guys. There’s more important things in this game than that call right now.”
Marchand, who had some choice words for the officials as he exited the ice, was even less eager to discuss the call, responding to each question about it with a one-word answer.
Here's the full transcript of Marchand's presser. Gold star to @TheBruinsBlog for getting the longest response. pic.twitter.com/LwiDxVrDXw
— Zack Cox (@zm_cox) February 23, 2016
Marchand finished with zero points and four shots on goal in 17:56 of ice time. In addition to pacing the Bruins in goals with 30, he now leads the team in penalty minutes, as well.
Thumbnail photo via Winslow Townson/USA TODAY Sports Images
