The 37-year-old Bergeron found himself deep in the offensive zone when he was tackled. As he crouched and turned for the puck, a Montreal forward who was 12 years his junior hit him in the head with a shoulder.
Although it wasn’t with some frantic intensity, Marchand didn’t wait for anything, he dropped his gloves in a flash, pulled Pitlick to the ice, and before the linesman came to pacify the situation, he delivered two punches to his opponent.
He collected two plus two minutes for rudeness, Pitlick a two for illegal defending, but a clear message was sent: No one will treat our captain like this with impunity!
“That’s right, he can’t afford this. He hit Bergeron three seconds after he had the puck. I liked that Marchand made the guy pay for it,” Bruins coach Jim Montgomery said.
There were 39 penalty minutes in the entire game, and Boston defenseman AJ Greer played a key role in that, as he dribbled into Mike Hoffman’s face late in the first period and received a five-plus penalty for the rest of the game.
“It’s great to play with emotions, but we mustn’t get carried away by those emotions. Unfortunately, Greersy’s stick flew out. It’s something we can learn from, because in the playoffs you can’t afford to take penalties like that,” Montgomery appealed.
Boston has already arranged participation in the elimination part a long time ago, with 115 points sitting on top of the overall table. Until the end of the regular season, he still has 11 games to try to break the historical record set by Montreal in the 1976-77 season – 132 points.
