Jarome Iginla’s biggest fan dresses in the same locker room.
“I think I gave him a huge kiss there at one point,” Boston Bruins forward Brad Marchand told reporters of his teammate.
For Marchand, the veteran Iginla could not have picked a better time to score his first playoff overtime goal, completing a Boston comeback in Joe Louis Arena and sealing a 3-2 Game 4 win for the visitors.
Had Detroit been victorious and tied the series at two, the weight of defeat would rest heavy on Marchand, who missed not one but two open-net chances.
Maybe it’s never happened on as grand a stage as the Stanley Cup Playoffs, but anyone who’s ever picked up a stick has endured a nightmare like Marchand did on Thursday.
The pesty, speedy forward had 13 points in Boston’s run to the 2013 Stanley Cup Final but has been kept off the score sheet this entire series.
Kevan Miller teed up Marchand on the backdoor with five minutes left in the first period, and he misfired on a gaping cage, hardly protected by goaltender Jonas Gustavsson’s desperate stick. The halfway through the third frame, Marchand failed to convert defenceman Torey Krug’s pass into another wide-open net. Imagine standing directly over top of a laundry hamper, dropping a balled-up sock and missing.
You could hear playoff poolies cursing his name.
“I was definitely frustrated, especially after the second one more than the first one,” Marchand said. “I definitely wanted to bury it hard on the second one. First one I kind of flicked it and missed, and I really wanted to bury that second one. Maybe my shot’s too hard and I’ve got to take a little off.”
Mercifully for Marchand, Iginla tipped a Dougie Hamilton point shot that deflected bast Gustavsson for the OT win. Otherwise, he’d be replaying his blown chances (watch above) all night.