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Mike Miccoli
The Hockey Writers
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Brad Marchand Isn’t Happy With Gabriel Landeskog’s Hit
Brad Marchand won’t exactly come right out and say it, but he isn’t pleased with Gabriel Landeskog.
“I know I got hit in the head and that’s all I was concerned about—my well-being and making sure I was okay. That’s it”
That was Marchand’s reaction after getting side-swiped by Landeskog’s hit early in the second period of the Bruins’ 3-2 loss against the Avalanche on Thursday night.
Terrible Landeskog hit on Marchand pic.twitter.com/0fniXhoQT2
— Pete Blackburn (@PeteBlackburn) November 13, 2015
Landeskog received a match penalty while Marchand got two minutes for roughing after he landed a punch to the Avalanche captain’s jaw. Aside from time spent in the penalty box, Marchand didn’t miss any ice time.
After the game, a swarm of media surrounded Marchand’s locker wanting to know his thoughts on Landeskog’s hit. What they got were brief, nondescript answers from a player who was clearly frustrated with the situation on top of his team’s fourth loss in five games.
The longest answer Marchand gave the reporters was to a question on whether he’d accept Landeskog’s hypothetical apology.
“I mean, things happen quick,” said Marchand. “I know that I’ve been there. I’m sure he didn’t mean it. I don’t think he’s a dirty player so, you know, it’s hockey. It is what it is.”
And that was pretty much it. Marchand, frustrated enough to have to sit through a series of the same questions from reporters looking to get something, anything out of him, summed it up in five simple words: it is what it is.
There was something more to Marchand’s frustration. There was this look of angst from a player answering questions in a monotone voice, waiting for the night to be over. You saw it when he got off the ice and punched Landeskog after the hit—one that head coach of the Colorado Avalanche Patrick Roy didn’t appreciate either.
“Obviously you’re in the middle of the ice subject to get hit, but I guess he didn’t like it,” said Roy. “{Marchand} was like this in junior, he didn’t like to get hit by anybody.”
Still, for a player just coming off of a concussion injury from earlier in the season, the frustration could be displaced to something else.
The Bruins are now 1-5-1 at home and back down to a 7-7-1 record. They can’t hold a lead or finish a game, and often look lost on the ice. As soon as the team starts to look like things are changing, they change back. It’s the same ol’ story for a team that’s not good, not bad, but just mediocre. That might be worst of all.
Marchand wasn’t happy after Landeskog’s hit—let’s not mince words. But the frustration might have been more than just one play in one game.
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