MONTREAL — Last spring Sam Bennett’s behind-the-play sucker punch of Brad Marchand knocked the Bruins captain out for two games and helped tilt the second-round playoff series in the Panthers’ favor.
On Wednesday night at the Bell Centre, they’ll be suiting up for Canada together to open NHL 4 Nations Face-Off play against Sweden at 8 p.m.
On Monday they arrived in Montreal as teammates for the first time. Neither player expected a problem, but both made sure to connect. On Tuesday they admitted they like each other.
“We’re each working toward the same goal and trying to accomplish the same thing. Those are things you don’t worry about when you’re here. Bygones are bygones,” Marchand said. “That’s the great thing about hockey players. Whatever happens on the ice is not personal. We’re out there to do a job. You can’t take it personally off the ice. We’ve chatted a lot. He’s a really good dude. No issues there.”
Bennett reciprocated the warmth.
“This is the first time I’ve really gotten to know him and he’s a super nice guy. Super friendly. We’ve had some great talks and great conversations,” Bennett said. “You can be as competitive as we are when you go against each other. But it all goes away as soon as you put on the same sweater. We’re all looking for the same goal. That’s to win. Anything that happens on the ice with me, it’s never personal I’m just doing whatever it takes to win.”
This is not new ground for Marchand. He was suspended five games for his elbow to Marcus Johansson’s head in 2018. A year later they were teammates on the Bruins team that came a game away from winning a Stanley Cup.
Marchand and Tyler Bertuzzi had altercations when Bertuzzi was a Red Wing. They got along great in their brief stretch as Bruins teammates and then went back to infuriating each other when Bertuzzi left for Toronto.
Marchand famously defended Bennett’s actions last year in the playoffs.
“He plays hard, you know, he’s an extremely physical player, a great player for their group. I think he got away with a shot but, I’m not gonna complain, (Stuff) happens and that’s part of, especially playoff hockey,” Marchand said. “I’ve been on the other side of a lot of plays and I think you get away with one but that’s part of the game and definitely part of playoff hockey. It sucks to be on the other side of it. But that stuff happens.”
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