Bruins left wing Brad Marchand tries to dig the puck out from under Ottawa goaltender Mads Sogaard during Boston’s 2-1 win Tuesday night at TD Garden. Charles Krupa/Associated Press
BOSTON — The puck seemed to have eyes as it laser-beamed across the zone off Brad Marchand’s stick. There were so many things it could have hit and almost hit, but didn’t as it zipped by three players late in the first period.
There were legs and sticks between Marchand and where he was sending his pass from the top of the right-wing circle. But he sensed that a path was clearing and that Jake DeBrusk would be arriving at the end of it. Marchand sent the puck through traffic to his linemate’s tape. DeBrusk deked the goalie and put the Bruins up 2-1 for what turned out to be the winning goal.
“I saw him, I just tried to get open. He threaded it through a couple of guys,” DeBrusk said. “That was all-world. I was happy to finish it for him.”
Marchand thought momentum was building as a line.
“We had a stretch (of games) there where we weren’t connecting and we weren’t really in synch,” Marchand said. “It seems like we’ve kind of turned that corner. It’s nice when it connects.”
Marchand credited both Patrice Bergeron, who drew one defender out of the way, and DeBrusk for his nifty finish.
But as much credit as he wants to dish off, the play was the latest sign among a growing number of them that Marchand is getting close to playing like himself, which could give an already good team a boost.
After missing most of October following offseason surgery, he’s been good (20 goals, 42 assists in 62 games), but not as dynamic as he’s been in the past. On March 8, he told the Boston Herald he didn’t feel right.
“I thought I’d feel better now than I do, to be honest with you,” Marchand said. “It’s been really relieving that we have the team we have and we’re as deep as we are, because it definitely takes pressure off. But I thought I’d be where I was last year right now. I don’t necessarily feel like that. I still have a little ways to go before playoffs.”
He pointed to the lack of precision in his play.
“(There are) plays that I see that I’m just not connecting on, where normally I’ll have a little more patience or whether I’m forcing it a half-second too quick or a half-second too late,” said Marchand. “There are plays that I’m forcing at the wrong times and not seeing things quick enough in order to make it.”
On Tuesday, he was neither a half second too quick nor too late. Marchand delivered a pass that few other players could even envision.
“That pass was world-class,” said Hampus Lindholm, who had a good view from the blue line. “That’s hard to defend. They did a great job. That’s a beautiful goal.”
Bruins Coach Jim Montgomery shook his head and smiled.
“(He) has found his groove. He’s making a lot of plays again,” Montgomery said. “It’s great to see. Just the way he’s attacking defensemen’s feet. Pulling up and reading. If their ankles are turned one way. He’s going the other way.”
Still, Marchand said he’s not quite all the way back.
“I wouldn’t say I am yet, but you feel better about your game when you’re getting bounces,” he said. “That’s part of my game. I’m expected to produce. I put a lot of pressure on myself to do that. The better conditioned I feel and the more I move my feet, the more things open up. … When your confidence is high you feel like you can make plays and pucks find the back of the net. Kind of feel like that right now.”
EVERY YEAR, the NHL Players Association polls its members on a variety of mostly hockey-related topics toward the end of the regular season. Four Bruins players landed among the leaders in this year’s final results.
For the second straight year, Brad Marchand ranked first on the question: “Which player do you least enjoy playing against, but would like to have on your team?”
Marchand received over a third of the vote at 36.5%.
Patrice Bergeron landed in a couple of categories.
With 18.8%, he finished second behind Sidney Crosby’s 30.1% among responses to “Who is the most complete player?”
Bergeron was fifth with 1.5% for this question: “In a must-win game, which forward do you think would be most impactful?” Connor McDavid was a runaway leader at 59.3%.
In the off-ice questions, Nick Foligno and David Pastrnak cracked the leaderboards.
When asked “Which NHL player is the best guy in the locker room?” Foligno was sixth at 2.5%. Marc-André Fleury was first at 3.8%. Overall, 181 players received votes.
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