The Boston Bruins’ Brad Marchand is known for many things, but scoring goals is not at the top of the list of things used to describe his hockey accomplishments.
However, with his power-play goal in the second period of the Bruins’ 2024 NHL playoff series against the Toronto Maple Leafs, the 35-year-old has surpassed Cam Neely for the most playoff goals in Bruins history.
To further the angst among the Maple Leafs faithful, he scored his 12th career playoff goal at Scotiabank Arena and has tied Bryan Trottier (12 at Capital Centre vs. the Washington Capitals) for the most playoff goals at an opposing arena in NHL history.
In this playoff series, Marchand has been a thorn in the side of the Maple Leafs, as well as just about all of the opponents he has encountered in his long career in the NHL.
The Maple Leafs and their faithful are quite upset that Marchand is averaging two points per game in this series and leading the Eastern Conference in scoring, that his fingerprints are all over both sides of the special-teams battle they’re losing, and that this ninja of hockey’s dark arts has drawn two key penalties while taking none of his own.
Coming into tonight’s game, Marchand has erupted for six points in three games as the Bruins have taken a 2-1 lead in the series.
And now, he has put himself in the record books in one of the most storied franchises in NHL history.