Bruins’ Brad Marchand Speaks Out On Sam Bennett Hit For First Time

BOSTON — If you’ve been living under a rock, you might not know that Bruins captain Brad Marchand has missed the last few games with an upper-body injury.

It wouldn’t matter if that rock was buried somewhere below the earth’s crust, though, you’ve at least heard people yelling about the cause of his injury.

Marchand took a less-than-legal hit from Panthers forward Sam Bennett in Game 3, with the hard-nosed goal scorer throwing a punch that landed clean above the shoulders of his opponent. It was enough to keep Marchand sidelined for nearly a week, but with the injury came a layoff in media sessions for the Bruins’ captain.

He finally got his chance to speak Thursday and made the most of his opportunity.

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“He plays hard. He’s an extremely physical player, a great player for that group,” Marchand said. “I think he got away with a shot, but I’m not going to complain because (expletive) happens. It’s part of playoff hockey. I’ve been on the other side of a lot of plays, and I think he got away with one, but that’s part of the game — and definitely part of playoff hockey.

“It sucks to be on the other side of it, but that stuff happens so I’m not going to sit here and complain about it. I think he got away with one, but it is what it is.”

The Bruins obviously have their thoughts on what happened, as do the Panthers. Both Jim Montgomery and Paul Maurice made that very clear in the days following the incident, but Marchand surprisingly took the middle ground.

Bennett’s hit wasn’t clean, but it’s not like that stuff doesn’t happen all the time. It’s playoff hockey.

“People don’t want to say it, but part of playoffs is trying to hurt every player on the other team,” Marchand continued. “And the more guys you take out, the more of an advantage you have. People don’t say that, but that’s just a fact of the game. Every time you step out on the ice, someone’s trying to hurt someone.”

Marchand essentially said the quiet part out loud but held little judgment toward Bennett.

“He’s a competitor,” Marchand said of Bennett. “The guys on that team, they compete hard. That’s the way you want your guys to play in the playoffs. … sometimes guys get hurt. I’m not going to complain about it. It is what it is, that’s playoff hockey and that’s what makes winning the cup so hard to do.

” … If you try to hurt someone to win, I don’t care. It’s part of it.”

Marchand’s return to practice Thursday is a good sign that he’ll be able to return in Game 6 on Friday night. If he does, the physicality of an already desperate Bruins squad is bound to rise in a do-or-die game at TD Garden.