It was the game before the game.
Prior to Friday’s start of Bruins-Rangers, Brad Marchand and Mika Zibanejad had their own little competition to settle. Following warmups, both players refused to be the last one to leave the Madison Square Garden ice. The two waited, and waited, and waited. The Zambonis cleaned the ice, the nets were replaced, yet they remained.
Minutes passed, and finally they decided to settle things by an old-fashioned game of rock, paper, scissors. The winner? Zibanejad, after he threw rock to Marchand’s scissor.
Hockey players are known to be superstitious, and Zibanejad was certainly not going to allow an opponent to win on his home ice.
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Sean Leahy is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @Sean_Leahy.