We shouldn’t really be surprised at this point should we? Brad Marchand will likely face the wrath of hockey fans outside of Boston after the Bruins forward took out the legs of Tampa Bay Lightning defenceman Anton Stralman Tuesday night.
Marchand might also be hearing from the NHL’s Department of Player Safety for the second time in a week for the incident.
There’s no way to decipher whether or not Marchand intentionally slew-footed Stralman (watch the play above and judge for yourself) but knowing Marchand’s history with similar plays it’s difficult to dismiss it as an accidental collision.
Slew footing can be found under section six of the NHL’s official rulebook under Rule 52. It’s defined as follows: “Slew footing is the act of a player using his leg or foot to knock or kick an opponent’s feet from under him, or pushes an opponent’s upper body backward with an arm or elbow, and at the same time with a forward motion of his leg, knocks or kicks the opponent’s feet from under him, causing him to fall violently to the ice.”
Marchand was not penalized on the play. Ironically, Stralman was assessed a tripping penalty seconds later after taking David Pastrnak‘s feet out from underneath him.
This latest incident comes just five days after Marchand was fined $10,000 by the NHL, the maximum allowed under the CBA, for taking out Niklas Kronwall in a game against the Red Wings.
“The last thing I want to be doing is continually going back in front of those guys [the NHL Department of Player Safety],” Marchand said last week. “I’m sure they’re getting sick of seeing me. That’s a little bit of stupidity there. A little unnecessary. I can play the game without doing that stuff.”
Marchand has faced supplemental discipline for slew footing on two additional occasions as well. He was fined $2,500 during the 2011-12 season for a slew foot on Matt Niskanen and suspended two games in 2014-15 for doing the same to Derick Brassard.
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