BOSTON — Jim Montgomery treaded carefully.
Perhaps the Bruins coach was trying to avoid creating a sound bite or getting a call from the NHL. But it was clear he and the Bruins weren’t happy with Sam Bennett’s hit that knocked Brad Marchand out of Game 3 and possibly longer.
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”Having seen it, there’s a history there with Bennett,” Montgomery said. “Good, hard player. But there’s clearly evidence of what went on. People can say it wasn’t intentional. We have our view of it.”
Marchand officially left with an upper-body injury and is listed as day-to-day. He didn’t practice on Saturday. The injury occurred on a hit from Bennett where the Florida forward appeared to sucker punch the Boston captain prior to the check.
”No, and I don’t think most of you would either,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said when asked if he had seen anything illegal. “It was just a collision. In a perfect world, every team has everybody healthy. Nobody likes to see anybody hurt.”
The history Montgomery was referring to comes from Bennett knocking Toronto’s Matthew Knies out of a playoff series last year with a crosscheck.
The Bruins trail Florida 2-1. The teams will play Game 4 on Sunday at 6:30 p.m.
Charlie Coyle hoped the Bruins would rally around Marchand’s absence if he doesn’t play the way Toronto did when Auston Matthews was missing in the first round.
”I think you saw Toronto do that against us earlier with Matthews out. They come together and throw together a couple of good games without him,” he said. “We want to play for guys who are out of the lineup and can’t be in there. That’s why we play out there. We play for each other and that’s something we’re gonna do tomorrow.”
Marchand’s 10 points (three goals, seven assists) leads the Bruins in the postseason.
