Much has been made of Brad Marchand cleaning up his act, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that the Boston Bruins forward has totally stopped blurring the line between “physical” and “illegal” play.
Marchand was everywhere in the Bruins’ 3-2 win against the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday, and that was mostly in a good way, scoring a goal and an assist, easily leading all forwards with 20:06 time on ice.
Devils fans were unhappy when Marchand wasn’t penalized for a highly questionable elbow on forward Marcus Johansson. You can watch the infraction in the video above this post. You can also see it in GIF form below.
NBC Sports Boston’s Joe Haggerty reports that the Department of Player Safety is aware of the elbow, and supplemental discipline may come:
NHL Player Safety is reviewing the Brad Marchand unpenalized elbow to the head of Marcus Johansson in the third period of tonight's B's win, per a source. Given his frequent customer status, BM63 may not get out of this unscathed.
— Joe Haggerty (@HackswithHaggs) January 24, 2018
Again, many recall other incidents with Marchand, so plenty were unhappy with the situation:
Marchand elbows Johansson in head. Uncalled. Probably didn't mean it. Never does.
— Larry Brooks (@NYP_Brooksie) January 24, 2018
What do you think? Is a suspension appropriate in this case?
UPDATE:
Boston’s Brad Marchand will have a hearing today for elbowing New Jersey’s Marcus Johansson.
— NHL Player Safety (@NHLPlayerSafety) January 24, 2018
More on the Bruins: How will they cope without Charlie McAvoy?
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James O’Brien is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @cyclelikesedins.