Captain Brad Marchand wasted no time dropping the gloves in defense of star forward David Pastrnak as the Boston Bruins and Florida Panthers still have plenty of bad blood between them.
The first period of Monday afternoon's game at TD Garden was the Bruins' most intense 20 minutes of hockey this season.
Things heated up with 8:27 left in the period when Panthers forward A.J. Greer hit his former teammate David Pastrnak from behind along the boards. Despite a clear case for boarding, no penalty was called on Greer.
Pavel Zacha quickly came to Pastrnak's defense, dropping the gloves and fighting Greer.
Just over a minute later, Pastrnak responded with a late hit on Panthers forward Sam Reinhart and was penalized for interference. This led to Panthers defenseman Nate Schmidt confronting Pastrnak, prompting Bruins captain Brad Marchand to jump in and fight Schmidt.
By the end of the period, the two teams had racked up two fights and 26 penalty minutes. The Panthers led 2-1 after scoring the go-ahead goal on the power play.
The Bruins gave the Panthers four power plays in the first period alone, bringing the Panthers' total to 10 power plays in just four periods between the two teams this season.
While the Bruins were understandably frustrated with the officiating, they need to stay disciplined to beat the Panthers. Letting emotions get the best of them played right into the Panthers' hands, and that's not how you win games.
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