Brad Marchand gets 14 penalty minutes at the end of the first for being Brad Marchand

Late in the first period of tonight’s game in Nashville, Brad Marchand got hit with a reputation call, followed by another reputation call, followed by another reputation call.

With the Bruins down 1-0 in the dying seconds of the opening period, Marchand received a high-sticking penalty for catching Colton Sissons up high.

The problem, however, was that Marchand’s stick never made contact with Sissons’ face. When Marchand let the refs know that on his way to the box, he was given a second penalty, this one for unsportsmanlike conduct.

After the first ended, Marchand continued to voice his displeasure toward the officials, and was hit with a 10-minute misconduct for his troubles.

For those keeping score at home, that’s 14 penalty minutes in a one-goal game for a penalty that never should have been called. It’s hard to believe that the second minor and the misconduct would have been called on anyone other than Marchand.

Thanks to Chris, you can see for yourself.

Here’s the play in real-time, along with Marchand’s fake dives to call out Sissons and the refs:

Here’s the play slowed down, so you can see there was no contact made:

And here’s Jack Edwards getting his two cents in as the game resumed:

Yeah. Reputation calls there, friends.

Yes, high-sticking calls are hard to make. However, you must be pretty confident in your own calls to 1) make the initial call, 2) tack on a double-minor and 3) then add a misconduct.

The funny part is that the ref will see after the game that he was wrong, but nothing will happen. Sissons should get fined for embellishment, but the Bruins won’t get back the 10 Marchand-free minutes.

Will they decide the game? Probably not, but that doesn’t make the sequence excusable.

(Note: The Bruins ended up killing the double minor to start the second.)