Marchand Madness: Shorties, Pt. I

After a couple entries in the fun and edgy realm of hockey, we turn our attention to actual hockey plays. We’ve gone over goals, even strength. But what about short-handed? Over the last few years, we’ve seen the tandem of Brad Marchand and Patrice Bergeron grow into one of the best penalty-killing forward duos in the league. That’s why we’re focusing on a specialty of Brad, putting the puck in the net when down a man, in this edition of…

Round One: Short-handed Goals

1. SHG Against Vancouver, Stanley Cup Finals – 2011

There were very few goals more memorable than this during the Bruins’ Cup run in 2011, nevermind ones scored on the penalty kill. But this goal essentially sealed a victory in Game 3 of the Finals, a must-win coming back from Vancouver in an 0-2- hole. Everything about this goal is great—the handling of the puck off the bounce, the self-pass off the wall, holding off Ryan Kesler, and holding… holding… holding until Luongo goes down before putting it top-shelf into a wide open net. It was one of the first moments fans believed the Bruins could win the series.

4. SHG Against Detroit – 2015

This goal gave Marchand a natural hat-trick, kinda. After scoring the last two goals in the game against Philadelphia, Marchand got the Bruins on the board less than 24 hours later and just over four minutes into the game. After Stephen Weiss somehow loses the puck in his skates, Marchand lifts the stick and picks his pocket before going down for a breakaway. A faint drop of the shoulder gets Jonas Gustavsson to bite, and Marchand’s patience again leads to a Bruins short-handed goal. The Bruins would go on to win the game 5-3 and take a much needed four points out of the weekend.

So will it be a game-sealing short-handed goal in the Stanley Cup Finals? Or Brad Marchand: Man on Fire getting the scoring going with his third straight goal on Garden ice?