Jim Montgomery Critical Of Bruins Captain In Overtime Loss Vs. Canadiens

When the Boston Bruins named Brad Marchand as the 27th captain in franchise history prior to the centennial season, questions surrounded the forward’s feisty reputation.

While Marchand has undoubtedly shown maturity in the latter years of the 14 seasons he’s worn the Spoked-B, he has been known to get under the skin of his opponents and at times has crossed the line, costing the 35-year-old 28 games to suspension in his career.

Both general manager Don Sweeney and head coach Jim Montgomery have seen Marchand’s leadership on and off the ice firsthand but on Saturday night, the bench boss was critical of the captain in the Bruins overtime loss to longtime rivals — the Montreal Canadiens.

With the Bruins trailing the Canadiens 2-1 in the third period, Marchand was taken out of a play that he thought should have been called a penalty and he let referee Chris Lee know exactly what he thought about the non-call. Lee obviously didn’t like what Marchand had to say and penalized the captain for unsportsmanlike conduct.

“Can’t take those penalties. It’s inexcusable,” Montgomery told reporters after the game, per team-provided video. “Refs ref games. Players play games.”

Marchand has been called for seven penalties this season, but this is the first for unsportsmanlike conduct and the captain made no excuses for his actions.

The Bruins prevented the Canadiens from capitalizing on the man advantage while Marchand sat in the sin bin and it was the captain’s power-play goal at 12:58 of the third that tied the game at two and forced overtime, but he acknowledged he needed to be better in that situation.

“I don’t know how it gets any more obvious than the call that he missed there,” Marchand told reporters after the loss, as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage. “But, I can’t let my emotions get the best of me there. It is what it is.”

The loss snapped a 10-game winning streak Boston had over Montreal dating back to the 2019-2020 season. The Bruins will look to start a new streak against their longtime rivals when they host the Canadiens on Saturday night in Montreal’s lone trip to TD Garden this season.