BOSTON — A year ago, the Bruins entered the playoffs banged up.
Patrice Bergeron, David Krejci and Hampus Lindholm were all well below 100 percent in the playoffs. Krejci and Bergeron each missed time and Lindholm played well below his regular season standard. Boston wasn’t the same team as they were upset by the Florida Panthers in the first round of the playoffs.
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Some injuries are just bad luck and some are wear and tear. By playoff time, nobody is simply healthy or hurt. It’s all a matter of percentages.
Brad Marchand said playoff seed didn’t matter as long as a team is playing its best hockey when it reaches the playoffs. But when the 35-year-old, Bruins captain was asked if he’d consider sitting out at all down the stretch if Boston had already clinched a playoff spot, he winced a little. The concept goes completely counter to hockey’s proud ethos.
Marchand didn’t 100 percent rule it out but didn’t like the message it would send.
“I would need to be feeling really bad if I’m going to sit out to try to be healthy. The best way you can prepare to play is to play,” he said. If I’m going to sit, I’ll sit out of a practice, I’m not going to sit out of a game. If I feel like it’s really going to benefit me and I’m in a lot of pain in an area, maybe I’ll look at it.
“I also feel like I watched the guys who played before me and I respected and learned from and they didn’t sit out for anything,” he said. “So I have a hard time sitting out for anything at all. I feel like you have to play through things. It’s part of being a good pro. You play through pain. Time and place and you make that call when the time comes.”
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