Brad Marchand continues to be an absolute pest to Toronto.
The Bruins winger potted two third-period goals, including the game-tying and game-winning tallies, in Boston’s 4-2 win over the Maple Leafs on Friday night in is 700th game in the NHL.
“It’s a good win to come in here and beat that team,” Marchand said after the game, as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage. “Definitely a good game for us.”
The third period belonged to @Bmarch63.#NHLBruins pic.twitter.com/6ZvsUOOwbF
— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) November 16, 2019
.@Bmarch63's second of the night proved to be the winner and ends up as your @JagermeisterUSA Shot of the Game.#NHLBruins pic.twitter.com/dGH8w0rgnJ
— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) November 16, 2019
Marchand has been impressive against Toronto of late. Over his last eight regular-season games, the first-line winger has amassed 14 points (five goals, nine assists). He also was awarded Player of the Game honors after the win and skated around the ice with his plaque, showing it off to whoever was left in the crowd.
“I thought they were expecting me to do a lap, so I just did a lap,” Marchand said, per NBC Sports Boston’s Joe Haggerty.
Here are some other notes from Friday’s Bruins-Maple Leafs game:
— The Bruins snapped their four-game losing streak thanks to a full-team effort. Head coach Bruce Cassidy liked what he saw Friday after watching Boston blow a four-game lead against the Florida Panthers on Tuesday.
“We had a good start, played the right way,” he said after the game, as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage. “Obviously second period I thought we mismanaged pucks. So we refocused in the second intermission, talked about playing winning hockey, what it takes and we did that. I thought we did a real good job with that. … I thought we did a lot of things well. … Things we didn’t do the other night finish a game we did that tonight.”
— The Bruins are dealing with a slew of injuries and have had to rely on their depth to help them win games. Anders Bjork, Urho Vaakanainen and Trent Frederic have impressed their head coach so far.
“Freddy is playing a bit out of position, we just asked him to finish the checks that were there … hes still learning that position on the fly,” Cassidy said after the game on NESN’s postgame coverage. “… Bjork, he’s taking strides … he’s played good hockey for us. Vaak, I think he has the skating and defensive IQ abilities to defend in this league on a regular basis. … I thought he’s done a nice job for us.”
Bjork had an assist and a shot on net in the win. He also accounted for a hit and two blocks in 16:29 of ice time.
— Tuukka Rask turned away 29 shots on the night in what Cassidy said was a “rock-solid” performance.
“Easily a nine or 10 out of 10,” he said when asked to rate the goaltending, as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage. “I thought he was real dialed in. Let in the (Auston) Matthews deflection, nothing you can do about that. That’s a good play by Matthews I guess. … I thought he was rock-solid, controlled his rebounds and kept things nice and calm around the net.”
— Charlie Coyle manned David Krejci’s right side, a position he hasn’t played much due to being the third line’s center. But he scored a goal in the win, and Cassidy was happy with the 27-year-old.
“Excellent,” he said on NESN’s postgame coverage. “Goal early in the right spot. … Had a few more looks, made a play to Marchy in the slot … He’s played well. We always want him to shoot a little more because it looks like he makes that one extra pass. … Hopefully he develops a little more of that mentality.”
