Brad Marchand calls out Panthers forward after outburst during game
Boston Bruins captain Brad Marchand called out AJ Greer today after the Panthers forward made a questionable hit on David Pastrnak.
The play that got Marchand so upset happened along the boards after Pastrnak received a pass. He was immediately sandwiched between two Panthers players as Greer made a hit from behind and Jesper Boqvist hit him from the front.
This was just the latest in a series of contentious moments between the two teams. This one resulted in an on-ice scuffle though as Marchand took his frustrations out on Nate Schmidt following the play on Pasta. After the game, Marchand spoke to reporters about the incident, taking about how the Panthers were targeting Pastrnak all game long.
Just a couple of days ago, Bruins forward Trent Frederic got into it with Matthew Tkachuk, calling him out for pretending to agree to a fight. When Frederic dropped the gloves, Tkachuk refused to do the same, resulting in a minor penalty being assessed to the Bruin. After the game, Frederic expressed shock and disappointment that Tkachuk would pull such a move.
Clearly, these two teams do not like each other and they have good reason for it. In each of the last two years, the Panthers have ended the Bruins season on the way to the Stanley Cup final. For an aging Bruins team, every year is crucial as they try to get veteran players like Marchand another Stanley Cup. As such, those loses sting a little bit more, especially considering the success Florida has enjoyed over the past two seasons.
Perhaps today's game was a little bit more personal for Marchand though as Greer was a Bruin during the 2022-23 season, so he almost certainly knows him better than most players in the league. Still though, that is no excuse for his behavior on the ice today and certainly not an excuse for the Bruins sluggish 2-2-0 start to the season.
