Marchand Returns with A Bang in B's Win Over Detroit

BOSTON - Jim Montgomery knew from afar that Brad Marchand was a world-class player.
But seeing him perform up close on Thursday night left Boston's bench boss even more impressed with the winger's abilities.
"Coaching with him today confirmed that he's a world-class player," said Montgomery. "It's amazing how he comes up with pucks, the pucks in between three bodies. "He's like a little Tasmanian devil. He's twirling all around and the puck just seems to follow him. It's amazing. He tracks it, he fights for it, he'll bite your leg off for it, but that's why we love him."

A two-goal, three-point night in his first game in roughly five months is good reason, too.
Marchand was immense in his surprise return to the lineup, helping to pace the Bruins to a 5-1 victory over the Detroit Red Wings at TD Garden to close out Boston's perfect four-game homestand.
"It's great to get back into a game like this where the team has success, and it's just so nice to be part of it again," said Marchand. "When you're watching…obviously you're part of it, but it's completely different being in the room with the guys and on the ice and being in the mix. Long road, but very excited to be part of the team again and part of a victory."
Marchand, who will not play on the second end of the back-to-back on Friday night in Columbus, reported no ill effects from his season debut, during which he landed a game-high four shots on goal in 17:31 of ice time.
"It feels great to get through a game and not have to worry about potentially hurting something throughout the game," he said. "I felt so good with that. And I feel great, so I hope I feel like that [Friday]. We'll see [Friday], but I should [be OK] because we took the steps we needed to and we've been very careful about progression throughout it all. I've got to give a huge thank you to the training staff. I wouldn't have done it without them."

The 34-year-old wasted no time getting back into the mix offensively. After digging a loose puck off the wall in the offensive zone, Marchand zipped a feed across the slot to Derek Forbort at the left point where the blue liner fed Charlie Coyle, who was bursting into the zone. Coyle dangled through the middle of the ice and sniped one by Detroit goalie Villie Husso to open the scoring with 6:18 to go in the first period.
"I felt good. It took me a little bit just to get the timing back, and I was rushing a few plays that I think I'd normally hold on to a little bit more - a couple of pucks in my feet that I didn't pick up that I would normally have," Marchand said when asked how he felt about his puck battling.
"You normally have exhibition games to get that out, but it's my first time doing it in the regular season. All in all, it doesn't matter as long as you win. I could have played terrible tonight and I'd still be happy.
"Definitely room for improvement. I didn't have my best game and still things I can improve upon and looking forward to doing that with the group."
Not his best game, but one that still ended with him scoring two goals, the first being a patented Marchand wrister from the left-wing circle on the power play. As he crept close to the Detroit net, he thought about a message that Montgomery delivered to him on the bench earlier in the game, and then ripped a wrister over Husso's glove to open up a 2-0 Boston lead with 8:07 left in the second.
"I've got to give Monty credit, actually. Before the game, he told me to shoot low glove, and I tried to go high glove in the first period, and he kind of came by and nodded at me like, 'Hey, I said low glove.' And sure enough, it worked. Don't worry, he took credit for that," Marchand said with a smile.
Marchand was at it again early in the third when he kicked off a furious flurry of three goals in a span of 1:41 to extend Boston's lead to four. Planted on the doorstep, Marchand collected a David Pastrnak rebound and whacked home his second of the night to put the Bruins up, 3-1, just 2:55 into the third.
"I definitely felt more comfortable [as the game went along]," said Marchand. "It helps, obviously, playing with [Patrice Bergeron] and [Jake DeBrusk] and Pasta towards the later part of the game. Being out there with guys that I have great comfort levels with, they just made me feel comfortable the way they talked to me and allowed me to kind of sit into the game.
"It's kind of how it is. Once the game goes on, you get more mentally into it, and it just comes back to you. It's like riding a bike. When you're winning by four, five goals, it makes it easy too."

Swayman Stands Tall

Jeremy Swayman made his first start in nine days and put forth a stellar performance between the pipes, making 28 saves for his second win of the season.
"I thought the first 40 minutes of the game, unfortunately, Swayman had to be our best player and he was, he was fantastic, he made a lot of big time saves," Montgomery said of his fellow University of Maine alum.
Montgomery went on praise Swayman's character off the ice, noting that he had little doubt that the young netminder would rebound from his last performance in Ottawa.
"He's a high character kid, and I'm lucky to be an alum of the same University," said Montgomery. "Talking to numerous coaches there and people in the community that I know…people rave about him as a person and we never had any doubt that when he got back in that he wasn't going to put up this kind of performance."
Swayman said that during his lengthy layoff, he made sure to put in the work that would allow him to perform more to his expectations.
"It was nine days of working hard," said Swayman. "I knew I was gonna get another shot and I wanted to make sure I took advantage of it, talked to the right people, my mentors, and worked hard on the ice - early on and late off every day. It's been a really fun ride. I'm excited how I played today and obviously really excited for the two points."

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