Brad Marchand On Video Replay: ‘All Of This Video Stuff Really Bothers Me’

Boston Bruins winger Brad Marchand once again sent a message that he is an early-season candidate for the Hart Trophy by extending his point streak to nine games and scoring the overtime winner for the Bruins in a 3-2 win over the New York Rangers Wednesday.

Brad Marchand had another message for the NHL though after a game in which a Boston Bruins goal was disallowed and a Rangers’ apparent no-goal was allowed.

“You know, all of this video stuff really bothers me,” Marchand replied when asked if he thinks maybe the league needs to look deeper into having a sensor chip placed in the pucks to give a more clear-cut answer on controversial goals.

Just 4:53 into the third period with the game tied at one, Bruins winger Jake DeBrusk appeared to have lit the lamp for the first time this season to give the Boston Bruins what would’ve been a 2-1 lead at the time. However, it was ruled that after the puck hit the crossbar, it never fully crossed the goal line and therefore was no-goal.

While this call didn’t go the Bruins’ way, Brad Marchand wasn’t about to make a fuss and cry for more video replay or ways to determine what’s a goal a what isn’t.

“I just think that being able to challenge all these plays, hockey’s a game of mistakes,” Marchand pointed out. “Not only by the players but by the referees and that’s part of what makes it a good sport. You get your calls against you but you get your calls that go your way too. With all the video, there’s a lot of blame that gets put on the refs but they’re there to make those split-decision calls and now they’re calling them back all the time.”

As far as Brad Marchand is concerned, if the NHL continues down this rabbit hole of allowing video replay to determine the game the league is headed in the wrong direction. The pucks already had stat tracking sensors in them earlier in the season but it was affecting play too much.

“So, I don’t think that that’s necessary. It’s just taking hockey to a place where it’s annoying,” Marchand said bluntly.

Marchand also took a little jab at the analytics crowd in the NHL as those sensors the pucks had earlier in the season were there to enhance analytics stats.

“These dumb stats that just keep coming out. …they just bother me,” Marchand went on. “So I hope they don’t. They tried earlier this year and the puck was a cinder block for the boys. So, hopefully, we can just keep hockey hockey and play the game that we love.”

Here’s the video of Marchand, Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask and head coach Bruce Cassidy postgame: