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Brad Marchand Feeling Heavy Burden of Bruins’ Struggles

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AP Photo/Chris O'Meara

BRIGHTON, Mass. —The Boston Bruins have had to do some strenuous lifting this year and are beginning to collapse under the weight of it all, as a miserable start to the second half of the season has slashed their playoff hopes in half



The players have acknowledged that they are, in part, responsible for where the team currently sits and understand just how dire things are at this juncture. But for Brad Marchand, the burden is especially heavy. 

As far as the captain sees it, the Bruins’ situation is as much of a reflection of the team’s performance as much as it is of his.  

“You always feel pressure in those situations where things aren’t going right,” Marchand said following Bruins practice on Monday morning at Warrior Ice Arena. “You definitely want to try to carry that example. I don’t think anybody can look in the mirror and say we’ve been our best, but I definitely think I feel it a little bit more.” 

The Bruins are 1-6-1 since returning from the holiday break. Marchand has not scored a goal in that span and recorded only three points. 

The atmosphere surrounding the Bruins felt particularly bleak while they were in the midst of a six-game winless streak. So much so that rumors began to surface, claiming there was tension between Marchand and David Pastrnak. 

Marchand adamantly struck down the speculation, and the team quickly moved past it by defeating the Florida Panthers in overtime on Saturday. But even after collecting their first win of 2025, Marchand says the Bruins have nothing to hang their hats on. 

“It’s a one-off,” Marchand said. “You don’t ever want to look at that and say we’re back. It was a good opportunity to beat a really good team. They’re very deep. They play hard. It was a good test for us, and we faced some adversity in that game, that we got through. But it doesn’t mean that everything’s going to go right moving forward. It’s always about building. You never want to get too high, and you never want to get too low. One game isn’t going to change the season one way or another.”

It was only by the skin of their teeth that the Bruins earned the extra point against Florida. Before Pastrnak scored the winning goal in the final seconds of overtime, all they could do was hold on for dear life as the Panthers fired off 111 shot attempts to their 39 while Jeremy Swayman stood on his head to make 40 saves in goal. 

The one positive about the Bruins’ performance was that it was the first time since Oct. 16 that they scored multiple power-play goals in a game. 

“When you go through a stretch, but really it’s been the first half of the year, like we have, it definitely plays in your mind and on your confidence on the power play,” said Marchand. “Having a couple of bounces can allow you to start building that back slowly.”

The problem is that the Bruins no longer have time to slowly build with only 37 games left on their schedule. From now until the end of the regular season, each and every point will be critical as they try to keep up in the postseason race. 

“This time of year, we have to continue to elevate,” Marchand said. “The teams that do will continue to grow and push themselves into a playoff position, and teams that don’t will drop off, so we have to be a team that continues to elevate.”

It seems, though, that his team has reached its ceiling, at least until the front office decides to make some sort of move for added scoring that is, whether via a trade or call-up from AHL Providence. 

In the meantime, Marchand and the Bruins will have to continue carrying the load as they’re currently constructed and hope they can hold up. 

 “The compete level has to be a little bit higher, and you just got to work through it,” said Marchand. “Eventually, it’s going to turn, and we’re going to be better for it as a group, but we do have to work our way out of it and show the character that we have always shown.”

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