Brad Marchand of the Boston Bruins has been the team's leading scorer all season, and in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals, he stepped up in overtime to help his team protect home ice against the gritty New York Rangers.
Marchand hadn't scored a single goal this postseason before finding the back of the net with 15:40 left on the clock in the first overtime. "It's always frustrating" not to score, Marchand said, "but there's so many other areas of the game. It's always nice to get the first one and you hope you just keep going."
During the regular season, Marchand scored 18 goals for the Bruins, and was their leading goal creator as well, with 15. He scored 36 points on the whole for the shortened 2013 season.
The loss was the third straight overtime defeat according to ESPN.com for the Rangers; interestingly enough Game 1 was the Bruins' third straight overtime win, meaning New York would do well to ramp up their energy and execution in regulation. Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist said, "It was a tough overtime period for us. They came hard. My record is terrible in overtime, but I've just got to stick with it, play my game and hopefully it'll turn around."
Outspoken Rangers coach John Tortorella added, "I thought it was pretty even going into the overtime. But we got spanked in the overtime."
When asked about Marchand's goal, Lundqvist said, "I kind of knew he was coming in the middle, but I was just too locked in on the puck," Lundqvist said. "Sooner or later when you face a lot of chances like that, you're going to make a mistake."
In all, the Bruins outshot the Rangers 48-35, outmuscled them with 51 hits to New York's 45, and were far more careful with the puck. The Rangers recorded 17 giveaways, while Boston had just four.
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