BHN Puck Links: Boston Bruins Marchand ‘Happy’ With Just Busted Nose

BRIGHTON, MA – Boston Bruins winger Brad Marchand was still sporting the brunt of a Nic Dowd high stick a couple of days later with five or six stitches on his nose and a black eye from the broken nose suffered in Monday night’s win over the Washington Capitals.

I think Brad Marchand’s nose may be broken pic.twitter.com/OwmZp7MeTA

— Spoked Z (@SpokedZ) January 11, 2022

But Marchand considered himself fortunate it wasn’t worth given how close the violent upswinging stick was to his eyes and mouth.

“[There are] five or six stiches, but I’m just happy it wasn’t my teeth. I can do the broken nose, but I’m just glad it wasn’t my beautiful teeth…that would’ve hurt,” said Marchand, who knocked on wood given that he hasn’t lost any of his teeth to this point in his pro hockey career. “I don’t think it was intentional by any means, but he got me pretty good.”

🎥 @Bmarch63 on the damage from the high stick in Washington: “Five or six stitches, but I’m just happy that it wasn’t my teeth. I can do the broken nose, but missing these beautiful teeth of mine, that would have hurt.” pic.twitter.com/8BD33R3ACl

— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) January 12, 2022

Marchand even still has a long way to go to catch up to the half-dozen broken noses that Patrice Bergeron has endured in his NHL career. The Bruins left winger admitted that the busted nose wasn’t even the most painful thing he’s played through even it might have been the bloodiest.

A few years back Marchand blocked a sizzling Alex Ovechkin shot with his foot and was sure it was broken when it was numb back at the Bruins bench.

Spoiler alert: It wasn’t broken.

“I don’t think I missed a shift,” said Marchand with a laugh. “The guys gave it to me for a while [after that].”

With Marchand once again helping set a tone of toughness and grit for all hockey players on the Boston Bruins roster, here’s the rest of the BHN Puck Links:

*Tuukka Rask has realized his lifelong dream of playing hockey for beers as Bud Light has memorialized a binding contract with the newly signed B’s goaltender. Dilly Dilly. (Boston Hockey Now)

*Jack Eichel is pretty pumped to join the Vegas Golden Knights on the ice, and it sounds like he’s better than ever after his neck surgery. (Vegas Hockey Now)

*Defenseman Jeff Petry and forward Tyler Toffoli (non-contact) joined the Montreal Canadiens at practice Tuesday before flying to Boston for their tilt with the red-hot Bruins that kicks off a long road-trip for the Habs. (Montreal Hockey Now)

*Philadelphia Flyers legend Bobby Clarke crushed current Pittsburgh Penguins GM Ron Hextall Tuesday, claiming that the majority of Flyers hockey ops staff wanted the Flyers to draft now Colorado Avalanche star defenseman Cale Makar over oft-injured former Flyers forward Nolan Patrick at the 2017 NHL Entry Draft. (Philly Hockey Now)

*The Florida Panthers are so hot right now that their fans can’t control themselves as rapper Kodak Black showed in an FLA Live Arena suite Tuesday night. (Florida Hockey Now)

*There have predictably been some pretty funny reactions to that on twitter over the last 24 hours, including this gem from Scouting the Refs.

From Player Safety: Kodak Black has been fined $5,000 for Checking from Behind. During Tuesday’s game, Black delivered forceful contact from behind, where contact was clearly made on the back part of the
body (Rule 43). This is Checking from Behind. pic.twitter.com/wxdXO11bj8

— Scouting The Refs (@ScoutingTheRefs) January 12, 2022

*The Detroit Red Wings have hired hall of fame defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom as their vice president of hockey operations, and our friends in Hockey Town have all the details. (Detroit Hockey Now)

*Shane Wright of Kingston appears to be the consensus No. 1 overall pick in the NHL Draft according to the NHL’s Central Scouting list released on Wednesday. (NHL.com)

*More tidbits on the Habs’ GM search in the latest 32 Thoughts from Sportsnet Insider Elliotte Friedman, (Sportsnet)

*For something completely different: Honestly, when is Kyrie Irving going to just go away for once and for all. (TMZ.com)