Bruins notebook: Brad Marchand displeased with concussion spotter timing

Brad Marchand left Friday’s game against the Rangers in the third period with displeasure.

He was noticeably angry when he left the ice, though the reason wasn’t clear; later, he said he was pulled by a concussion spotter after he skated into Jacob Trouba’s elbow in the second period.

It wasn’t that he was taken off that bothered him, it was the timing when they had an entire second intermission to check on him.

“It’s embarrassing. They had 15-20 minutes to sit there and view the tape and call it,” said Marchand. “… The guy up there is busy eating pizza and cheeseburgers and can’t watch the game. Maybe next time he’ll get his head out of his butt and pay attention.”

Needless to say, the rest of the Bruins were displeased as well.

“I thought it was fairly evident when he got hit and then they decide to do it at the start of the third,” said head coach Bruce Cassidy. “I don’t know why they wouldn’t do it between periods, there’s an 18-minute intermission.”

It all worked out with a Bruins win, but in a close game without one of their best scorers, they weren’t in the best spot with the timing.

“I heard (the crowd), so that was nice,” Marchand said. “It was a good feeling, but you want to be out there with the guys, not sitting in the back room when you shouldn’t be.”

“He checked out fine,” said Cassidy. “It’s a little frustrating for him especially when it happened at the end of the second period, so I didn’t like the timing of it at all.”

No free ride tickets

The Bruins swapped lines around throughout the game after they lacked an energy level, and Cassidy said he was concerned there were too many passengers during the contest, including Danton Heinen, who was benched for a couple of shifts.

“There were a few guys; he was one of them,” said Cassidy. “I just didn’t think they weren’t hard enough on pucks. We shortened the bench; we’ve done that in the past to get people’s attention; we’ve done it in the past to get our game going, so the guys that are going get out there a little more often to try to tilt the ice, and he happened to be in that mix.”

Part of that mixing around included Jack Studnicka, in just his second game with the Bruins, spending some time on the wing, something Cassidy said they don’t want to make a habit of with him still developing as a center.

Bergeron still out

Patrice Bergeron missed his third straight game with the lower body injury that’s ailed him throughout November. Studnicka went back in the lineup after making his debut in Montreal on Tuesday.

Cassidy confirmed Bergeron didn’t skate while the Bruins were on the road, nor on Thursday when the whole team was off, so he didn’t have a shot at playing on Friday.

The only other lineup change was Connor Clifton back in for Steven Kampfer after Kampfer played in Ottawa two nights prior.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/2qOI9DR