Marchand’s big weekend cements status of ‘true leader’ of Bruins 

BOSTON -- After Brad Marchand scored with eight seconds remaining in overtime against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday, he lifted his arms and his teammates surrounded him, a dancing, hugging mob.

The Boston Bruins captain emerged, eventually, emotionally, his gloved hand covering his face.

One day earlier, Marchand’s maternal grandmother, Frances O’Leary, died, and now here he was, scoring a game-winning goal, ending an eight-game goalless streak.

He didn’t stop there.

Marchand finished off the weekend by scoring a natural hat trick against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Sunday at TD Garden, accounting for all of the Bruins’ goals in their 3-1 win.

“He’s a true leader,” goalie Jeremy Swayman said. “We all knew that from the beginning. For him to take it on his back and just not take no for an answer after a back-to-back and three-in-four, is what leaders do. He’s going to show up in the right times. He’s been doing that his whole career. Really special night for him, and obviously his entire family.”

The game Sunday was the Bruins’ third straight win after three straight losses in regulation, including a loss at the Blue Jackets six days earlier.

“It really felt like he just kind of threw us on his back and said, ‘I’ll take us across the finish line here’,” defenseman Charlie McAvoy said. “He has that capability. He plays with so much passion and energy, off a back-to-back and with a little bit of fatigue.

“I’m so happy for him. He’s ‘Cap.’ That’s what he does.”

After the Blue Jackets scored first, Marchand got the Bruins even at 1:56 of the third period, a snap shot from the right circle off a feed from Danton Heinen. The next two would come quickly, each on the power play, at 5:37 and 7:46 of the third. The three goals in the first 7:46 of the period were the third-fastest three goals by one player to begin a period in Bruins history behind Leo Labine on Nov. 28, 1954 (7:01) and Bobby Bauer on Nov. 20, 1946 (7:30).

It was Marchand’s sixth NHL hat trick and first NHL natural hat trick, only the third Bruins player in the past 10 years to get the latter, following Patrice Bergeron on Nov. 4, 2021, and Jan. 6, 2018, and Jake DeBrusk on Feb. 28, 2022.

Marchand had gone eight games without a goal and five games without a point before the weekend outburst.

“I think it was big, I think it meant a lot to him, especially with everything that was going on, beside the circus of the Toronto media,” Bruins coach Jim Montgomery said. “So for him to go in there and do what he does, that’s what you love about him. He’s such a competitor.”

Marchand, though, brushed that part off. He brought up that he had gone 16 games last season without a goal, stretching from March 11 to April 11.

This? This wasn’t a weight off?

“Not really,” he said. “I really wasn’t too concerned about it. I felt like I was having three or four really good opportunities to score every night. That’s how the game goes sometimes. You get one shot and you get a goal. Sometimes you get 10 and you’ll get one. I don’t judge my game based on if I score or not, it’s more about how the details are going.”

Coming into the weekend, Marchand had 19 points (seven goals, 12 assists) in the first 22 games. Heading into the Bruins’ next game, at home against the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday, Marchand has 23 points (10 goals, 12 assists) in 24 games. It’s a much more comfortable pace for a player whose 67 points (21 goals, 46 assists) last season marked a down year, at least in terms of personal production.

But, for Marchand, the weekend was far more about the bigger picture, about getting the Bruins (17-4-1) righted, even with a few extra losses in the standings. The three straight losses, the eight games without a goal, those didn’t worry him.

As he put it, “When you look at losing a couple games, for us it’s so much bigger than that.”

It’s a message that’s been passed down through the years and the leadership and the franchise.

It’s a message that Marchand, in his first season as captain, has continued to emphasize.

Because that’s yet another thing that Marchand has had to adapt to this season. Not only was he named captain Sept. 20, but he is playing the first season of his career without Bergeron, who retired July 25, and by whose side Marchand played for 14 seasons in Boston since his debut with the Bruins in 2009-10.

“I think I’m feeling a lot more comfortable now than early in the season, in training camp, just the way that we would even practice together every day. We did literally every drill together,” he said. “We were talking on the bench. So many different things changed with him leaving and it takes time sometimes to build chemistry with different guys.”

Bergeron, though, was a significant presence over the weekend, with the former captain paying a visit to the Bruins morning skate on Thursday, and with Marchand tying one of his records, joining him in fourth place among Bruins players in even-strength goals, with 274. His first of two power-play goals on Sunday also moved him past Bobby Orr for sole possession of ninth place in Bruins history with 75 power-play goals.

But though Bergeron is still giving out advice and the previous captain and the current captain remain in frequent communication, this is now Marchand’s team.

And this weekend, with a heavy heart, he carried them through.

“He’s just a special player,” McAvoy said. “It’s what he’s done his whole career. It was awesome to see not only last night, him get the winner, but carry it over to today. He means the world to this group.”