Over the weekend we saw Boston Bruins forward Brad Marchand take quite the beating against the Philadelphia Flyers.
Marchand kept his cool and extracted the best kind of revenge against the Flyers by scoring a goal and assisting on another, leading the Bruins to a 3-0 win.
However, Marchand was smashed by Ivan Provorov and looked dazed getting up, he later took a rough cross check from Shayne Gostisbehere.
"A little bit. I was a little bit frustrated. I think been hit more this year than every other year of my career combined. I just need to do a better job of keeping my head up," said a smirking Marchand. "I felt fine. I more just got it in the mouth and in the nose, which I guess is to be expected."
If you combine the pounding he took on Saturday, with the hits he's taken from the Capitals Tom Wilson and Leafs Leo Komarov in recent games, clearly the Bruins have to find a way to protect one of their best forwards.
Marchand isn't the only one, David Pastrnak also seems to have a huge target on his back and with Zdeno Chara not exactly the physical presence he once was and Adam McQuaid sidelined, it's a situation the team needs to address if they don't want those players missing any more time this season.
"He's been knocked around a bit this year, and obviously gets targeted just like [David Pastrnak]. We'll have to address that, but it was nice to see him bounce back," said head coach BruceCassidy. "He's a top end guy for us that does everything."
With Marchand having already missed a bunch of games while in the concussion protocol, does general manager Don Sweeney need to make a move to protect some of his star players?
