Brad Marchand: enraging the Maple Leafs… and silencing the crowd

Last night, Brad Marchand played a big one. In his team’s win over the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Boston Bruins captain found the back of the net twice in a 4-2 victory.

But there’s more to it than that.

After all, those who saw the game understand just how much the main man took the Maple Leafs players out of their game. This article is dedicated to a certain Tyler Bertuzzi, his former teammate in Boston.

Marchand spent all his time in his opponents’ heads… and everyone recognizes that.

Sheldon Keefe, after the game, mentioned that he’s the best player in the league at getting away with tripping his opponents. So Keefe flattered his opponents in a big way… and got his message across to the referees at the same time. #Habile

Marchand, who never spares his efforts to win, is directly responsible for his team’s victory.

He’s obviously not the only one to congratulate, since it’s a team effort – and since Jim Montgomery sent the right goalie in front of the Bostonnais net – but he doesn’t have the “C” on his sweater out of Christian charity: he leads the group.

But the Maple Leafs aren’t the only ones affected by Marchand’s play and the energy he stole from the Maple Leafs to give to his team: Toronto fans are too.

We know that the Toronto crowd isn’t known for being the loudest in the NHL because it’s only the people in ties who can afford tickets, leaving the real fans out in the cold. Especially during the playoffs.

But yesterday, it was something. How loud?

To the point where even Joe Bowen, long-time voice of the Maple Leafs, asked the fans in the arena to make more noise, just to get a real advantage on the ice. #Ouch

It’s a bit special to say that Marchand silenced the crowd since it was mainly the price of the tickets that silenced the crowd… but at the same time, if the Maple Leafs had played well, there would have been some atmosphere.

Will that change for game #4? It depends on the Bruins’ goaltender…

In brief

– Hashtags aren’t the right measure to calculate Quebecers’ interest, in this case.

– Too bad.

– Another loss for the Blue Jays.

– Anze Kopitar’s impact is still significant.[RDS]

– No hockey connection, but don’t forget to listen to the new Cowboys album.