Bruins Marchand Set To Return After Suspension
BOSTON (CBS) – Brad Marchand is set to return to the Bruins Tuesday night against the New Jersey Devils after serving a two-game suspension.
Marchand was suspended by the NHL for a blind-side elbow to the back of Colmbus' R.J. Umberger's head last week.
His coach is confident the rookie has learned his lesson and knows what he did wrong.
"You hope the player learns from it," Head Coach Claude Julien said Monday after practice. "As I said in Nashville you have to respect what the league is trying to do and not be hypocritical. We looked at the play with him a few times and made sure he saw what had happened there so he could understand it. You hope that your player learns from it, that's what I said. Hopefully he learned from it and he's a little more careful in regards to those head hits. We don't think there's any need for that in the game so we all have to be aware of that. If we're going to clean it up, as coaches you have to be supportive of it and help your players work through those as well.
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Marchand has been a big boost to the Bruins offensive game, netting 19 goals to go with 16 assists. Although Marchand is seen as an agitator, Julien does not think he will see a repeat of the Umberger hit.
"I think you need to trust your players to do the right thing," Julien said. "You have to trust your players that they've learned from those things and that they don't let it happen. Although there're certain guys in the league that don't seem to be learning."
Julien was referring to the Pittsburgh Penguins Matt Cooke, who was just suspended for the remaining of the regular season and first round of the playoffs for an elbow to the face of the Rangers' Ryan McDonagh.
