Brad Marchand did more than just clean out his locker during Wednesday’s Boston Bruins media availability — he also came clean about his latest antics that earned him the ire of many around the league.
The forward landed himself in hot water last week when he licked Tampa Bay Lightning forward Ryan Callahan‘s face.
His inappropriate efforts to get under his opponents’ skin — he also licked the neck of Toronto Maple Leafs forward Leo Komarov during the teams’ first-round playoff clash — have brought on a steady stream of criticism, not to mention a warning from the league.
When asked about the latest infraction, Marchand told reporters he’s “got to cut that [expletive] out.”
“I think the biggest thing for me now is to really take a pretty hard look in the mirror and realize that some of the things I’m doing have much bigger consequences than I may ever think or really believe will come out of it,” Marchand told reporters.
“The last thing I ever want to do is bring the embarrassment on my teammates and the organization that it did,” he continued. “I have to be a lot better. I know I’ve said that in the past, but I think that’s going to be the thing that I really work on the most. I think I’ve kind of gotten my game to a pretty decent spot but I’ve got some character things and things that I’ve done that clearly need some fixing.”
Over the past few seasons, Marchand has managed to transform his career from role-playing pest to Bruins leading scorer and MVP candidate, yet he continues to get himself into trouble for dirty plays that go beyond just playing with an edge.
Of course, this isn’t the first time Marchand has publicly acknowledged his need to clean up his game after getting in trouble with the league.
“At the time didn’t think it was a big deal at all, I couldn’t believe where it was going, that people were even talking about it,” Marchand said Wednesday. “But again, that’s a situation that I’ve got to really look at it and be better. So that’s the biggest thing that I’m going to take away. It’s time to kind of take a good, hard look in the mirror here and fix some issues.”
Also on Wednesday, the Bruins released their laundry list of injuries that players had been dealing with throughout the post-season, including Marchand playing through a groin injury.
The team announced Patrice Bergeron had been dealing with concussion-like symptoms during his one-game absence against Toronto, and had also sustained a groin ailment. Brandon Carlo (broken ankle), Riley Nash (concussion), Zdeno Chara (upper-body), Jake DeBrusk (AC joint sprain) and Torey Krug (fractured ankle) are among other banged-up players as the team heads into the off-season for a much-needed rest.
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