Report: Bruins' Brad Marchand Will Not Be Suspended Or Fined For Punching Scott Harrington
BOSTON (CBS) -- Brad Marchand lit the internet on fire on Tuesday night with his unprovoked punch to the back of the head of Blue Jackets defenseman Scott Harrington. But he apparently didn't upset the folks at the NHL's department of player safety too much.
According to Aaron Portzline of The Athletic, the "expectation" is that the Bruins forward with the long history of supplemental discipline will not be receiving a suspension for the punch.
TSN's Darren Dreger seconded the reporting:
The report indicated that the league does not even plan to fine Marchand for the incident.
The punch came with 1:01 left in Tuesday's Game 3 in Columbus, after Sergei Bobrovsky covered up a puck. With play stopped, Marchand skated toward Harrington, who was down on a knee, and punched the player in the back of the helmet.
No officials on the ice seemed to notice the punch, and it wasn't until after the Blue Jackets had completed their 2-1 victory that the punch began to receive attention.
Marchand, 30, has been suspended six times before for a total of 19 games, and he's also been fined three times for his behavior on the ice.
Marchand led the Bruins with 100 points (36 goals, 64 assists) during the regular season, but the Blue Jackets have limited him to zero points through the first three games of the series. Marchand entered the series having tallied four goals five assists in the Bruins' seven-game series win over the Maple Leafs.
