To those who watched the Ottawa Senators visit the Boston Bruins on Tuesday night, I sincerely hope you don’t have a heart problem. It was a blood boiling type of match-up when the two teams faced off in the second game of a home-and-home that ended with a bang in Boston.
A Blood Bath it Was
At the night’s end, the Bruins dominated the scoreboard taking the 7-3 win over Ottawa, who had trouble staying out of the penalty box all night. But, after 60 minutes, the score wasn’t so much the focus.
The night itself featured 115 total penalty minutes, most of which were accumulated in a fluster of a 3rd period that saw more than enough pairs of gloves fall to the ice. In the last 30 seconds alone, five 10-minute misconducts were delivered in the referee’s efforts to bury the “bad blood” between these two teams and let the game reach its end.
Marchand Possible Suspension
After taking a few minutes to simply let yourself breathe, you may take your pick at the handful of questionable plays that occurred in this game. There’s no disputing that both sides have plenty of reason to be distraught. From Mark Stone delivering a hit to the head on Boston forward Landon Ferraro for the 2nd time this season (the first time, Ferraro was in a Detroit Red Wings uniform), to multiple questionable actions from long time Bruin’s pest, Brad Marchand, it’s an understatement to say that this game got out of hand.
For many, it is one distinct play that still lingers. Although there was no penalty on the play, Marchand is likely to face a suspension after a low hit to Senators’ defenseman Mark Borowiecki. The hit, that took place nowhere near the puck, resulted in Borowiecki being dramatically upended. You can take a look at the hit here:
https://twitter.com/myregularface/status/681995394729943040
In a post-game interview, Marchand, who is a repeat offender of low hits and is no stranger to a suspension, brushed it off.
Marchand on the low bridge hit says he was just trying to turn up ice to pursue the puck carrier
— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) December 30, 2015
Elsewhere, the hit is being deemed worthy of a suspension and Marchand’s chances of participating in the New Years Day Winter Classic between the Bruins and Montreal Canadiens are seemingly small.
Senators’ head coach Dave Cameron didn’t have much to say on the play itself and whether it was worthy of a suspension, but did say he was surprised to see that Marchand stayed in the game.
"I was surprised he was still around to spear Turry," said Cameron on Marchand. #Sens
— Bruce Garrioch (@SunGarrioch) December 30, 2015
When asked about the actual game itself and the problems that the Senators dealt with in the blowout loss, Cameron was short with the media reiterating that the team “was not good enough”.
While the Senators continue with defensive struggles that inevitably have put the pressure on their goaltending, it was to the delight of Ottawa fans that Jared Cowen had a quiet night. Cowen was held off the ice for much of the second period and was 2nd lowest in TOI (next to Dave Dziurzynski) for the Senators recording only 9:01.
Not surprisingly, it was Erik Karlsson who picked up the extra time, finishing the game with a whopping total of 34:37. He’ll have little time to recover as the Senators play back-to-back games, hosting the New Jersey Devils Wednesday night.
For those wondering, the Senators and Bruins will face-off again in less than two weeks on Jan. 9th in Ottawa.