BOSTON — Jim Montgomery could have been upset with the double-minor penalty Boston Bruins star winger Brad Marchand took in the first period in Thursday’s 4-2 win over the Montreal Canadiens at TD Garden.
But the Bruins bench boss had zero issue with it due to what the penalty represented.
Marchand made a beeline for Rem Pitlick midway through the first period after the Canadiens forward delivered a hit on Bruins captain Patrice Bergeron behind the play. Marchand jumped all over Pitlick, taking him to the ice and throwing in a few haymakers to stand up for Bergeron before a scrum ensued in front of the Canadiens goal.
“You don’t hit our captain late,” Montgomery said. “That was a three-second late hit and I loved the fact that Marchand made the guy pay a price for doing it.”
The appreciation of the undersized Marchand stepping up in that moment was universal for the Bruins. Even Tyler Bertuzzi, who played in just his 10th game for the Bruins, understands that Marchand’s act is the way the team as a whole carries itself.
“Everybody sticks up for each other in here, especially Bergy the captain,” Bertuzzi said. “(Marchand) did a good job getting in there and sticking up for him.”
Marchand showed his selflessness late in the third period when he passed up an opportunity to pad his stats with an empty-net goal. Instead, the veteran winger tried to dish the puck off to Pastrnak, who is one tally short of 50 goals.
It didn’t come as a surprise to Pastrnak, who enjoyed his teammate’s response after the hit on Bergeron as well, that Marchand would do such a thing.
“That’s Marchy,” Pastrnak said. “He’s aware of this kind of situation every time. It’s not easy, you have a couple seconds to make decisions out there and he’s always aware of situations like this.
“It’s nice, but what I would point out is him sticking up for Bergy. It’s obviously outstanding. It’s kind of been our motto in the team and it’s great to see a guy like Marchy stick up for our captain. It definitely gets everybody going on the bench.”
Here are more notes from Thursday’s Bruins-Canadiens game:
— After back-to-back shutouts, Bruins goalie Jeremy Swayman stood tall in net once again. The 24-year-old allowed two power-play goals, but made a handful of dazzling stops to record 29 saves in a contest that the Bruins were outshot by 10.
“We want to do our job every night, whether we have two days off or no days off,” Swayman said.
— Pastrnak set a new career-high with his 49th goal of the season in the second period. The tally put Pastrnak in a tie for eighth on the Bruins’ all-time scoring list with Ken Hodge. He also tied his career-high of 95 points.
“His ceiling is higher than the point total now,” Montgomery said. “I wouldn’t be surprised for him to eclipse it year after year. … What matters most is he’s a brilliant player, who’s incredibly creative and he’s an incredible teammate. We’re very lucky to have him. Our fans are lucky to get to watch him for another eight years.”
— Montgomery said he would have a discussion with A.J. Greer on keeping his emotions in check after the Bruins fourth-liner received a five-minute major and a game misconduct for cross-checking Mike Hoffman in the face prior to a faceoff late in the first period.
— The Bruins, who notched a playoff berth nearly two weeks ago, almost clinched the Atlantic Division title, but didn’t get the loss they needed from the Toronto Maple Leafs to make it happen.
— The Bruins look to extend their winning streak to six games Saturday against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Puck drop from TD Garden is scheduled for 1 p.m. ET, and you can watch the game, plus an hour of pregame coverage, on NESN.
