Brad Marchand gets in a late-game dust-up with Lars Eller after perceived taunt

Believe it or not, the Bruins were a little frustrated during their 7-0 season-opening pummeling at the hands of the Washington Capitals.

Shortly after Lars Eller scored to give the Caps a “touchdown and extra point” lead late in the third, Brad Marchand decided that if the Bruins couldn’t beat them on the scoreboard, they’d beat them up instead.

From Chris (@CrzyCanucklehed):

There’s a lot to unpack here.

Marchand ended up getting an instigator penalty, probably because he went at Eller before Eller got his gloves off.

Marchand clearly got the better of Eller in the fight, but what caused it?

Apparently, Marchand and the Bruins were annoyed by Eller’s celebrating after he helped extend the Caps’ lead to seven goals.

Your thoughts? Clearly, it’s a little much in such a blowout. But if you don’t want to get taunted after allowing a seventh goal, don’t allow seven goals.

Plus, as taunts go, it wasn’t really that bad.

Still, Marchand thought frontier justice was necessary, and boy, did he deliver.

NBCSN

The incident occurred shortly before the clock struck 5 minutes to go, which allows Marchand to avoid an automatic suspension (due to the instigator penalty within the last five minutes of the game).

Caps fans will undoubtedly cry foul, saying that Marchand attacked a defenseless Eller. Bruins fans will probably be fine with the scrap, citing Eller’s taunts and obvious size advantage.

It’s unlikely that anything more comes of this from the league, but chances are pleasantries will be re-exchanged when these two teams meet again.

Fair from Marchand? Low blow? What do you think?

UPDATE (10:55 PM): Marchand and Bruce Cassidy offered some insight on what happened.