Before the Bruins’ Saturday game against the Blue Jackets, MMA superstar Conor McGregor began the festivities. In a way, he “ended” them, too.
McGregor was on hand to drop the ceremonial first puck heading into that game (doing so in Boston, which might beat out the Maple Leafs’ St. Pats jerseys as The Most St. Patrick’s Day thing in the NHL today). With that in mind, Brad Marchand decided to bust out McGregor’s “strut’ after scoring the 2-1 overtime game-winner against the Blue Jackets.
[More on how this game influenced the East playoff races.]
You can also see it in GIF form:
With two points tonight, @Bmarch63 now has 87 for the season.
— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) March 17, 2019
That is a new career high. #NHLBruins pic.twitter.com/ZTtii7fbCn
Marchand would probably need to be more excited to fight in his own “weight class” to truly be the McGregor of the Bruins (going after Lars Eller isn’t that far from McGregor getting in the octagon with CM Punk), but one can see how the two are, in many ways, kindred spirits.
Both inspire plenty of controversy (has McGregor ever licked a foe?), yet they’re both so talented that they really can’t be denied.
It’s part of what makes them both entertaining, and attention-grabbing ... and that much more annoying, if you’re not a fan of Marchand and/or McGregor.
Here’s McGregor dropping the puck:
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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.