Brad Marchand got all the attention last night despite the Columbus Blue Jackets taking the 2-1 lead in the series against the Boston Bruins.
The Bruins pest was caught punching an unsuspecting Scott Harrington in the back of the head as the blue liner was on his knees late in the third game of the series Tuesday night.
Harrington was not injured on the play, but many fans were outraged by Marchand’s actions. However, Jackets insider Aaron Portzline of The Athletic revealed on Wednesday that the NHL has reviewed the incident and no supplemental discipline is expected.
However, John Shannon of Sportsnet believes the Bruins will deal with the incident themselves. Last spring when Marchand was seen licking Tampa bay Lightning forward Ryan Callahan in the face, the Bruins and the league had put Marchand on notice and could warn the forward that similar behavior in the future will be dealt with by way of supplemental discipline.
He believes this will be dealt with internally.
At the moment though I sincerely doubt the Bruins will make any move on Marchand, who needs to get going in this series. Marchand has been held without a point through three games against the Blue Jackets, but made headlines in Game 1 when he stepped on Cam Atkinson’s stick prior to a faceoff. He also took a shot at ex-teammate Riley Nash before the second contest of the series.
His talent is too valuable to the roster and Marchand needs to to stop messing around and focus more on collecting points than warnings in this tight series.
Head coach Bruce Cassidy mentioned on Wednesday that he would have a conversation with Marchand about taking useless penalties.
"We need him on the ice."
