Marchand jumped on the ice for the Bruins’ morning skate, giving temporary hope that the club’s top playoff scorer (3 goals, 10 points) would be cleared to play.
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Brad Marchand’s presence was felt Tuesday.
The Bruins captain missed his second straight game as he recuperates from an upper-body injury, the result of a slug to jaw from Florida’s
Sam Bennett early in Game 3, but he was still around for his teammates.
Marchand jumped on the ice for Boston’s morning skate and also manned the locker room at Amerant Bank Arena during his team’s 2-1 win.
He took part in the half-speed rushes in the a.m., giving temporary hope that the club’s top playoff scorer (3 goals, 10 points) would be cleared to play. It looked very much like a normal morning skate for Marchand, in terms of his speed, stickhandling, and shooting.
The first hint the left winger wouldn’t be an option for Game 5 was when he wasn’t an active participant in the power-play drills at the end of the 15-minute session.
Marchand was an active participant however, engaging his teammates before the game — as seen in a video released by the club — and between periods.
With two days off before Game 6 Friday at TD Garden, there is hope Marchand could return for this series, which was on his teammates’ minds.
“Having him around is awesome in any capacity. Just his presence for us means a lot in everything that he carries and what he means to this team,”
Charlie McAvoy said after the win. “So having him here on this trip was [great] and he’s in there during the game and constantly giving us life, giving us positivity, and that means a lot. And we had his jersey hung in his stall tonight and we know what he means to this group, and we didn’t say die, we wanted to see this thing go back to Boston and give him a chance to get right and hopefully be back.”
Jim Montgomery said after the game that his captain still has steps to take before he would be cleared, just like any other player that is deemed day to day.
“It’s no fun to watch your guys and your team go to the battle, but he was amazing,” added
David Pastrnak. “He came in between every period, gave us a little quick speech, and he was there for us, so we obviously talked, and we wanted to get him back in the series and keep extending the series, so we’re proud of our team and him, as well.”