Bruins’ Jim Montgomery Sends Clear Message After Brad Marchand Injury

The Bruins and Panthers obviously were going to have differing views on the hit that landed Brad Marchand an early trip to the showers Friday, but we didn’t know how clear each side would make their feelings.

If you missed it, Florida forward Sam Bennett laid into Marchand during the first period of what would become a blowout win for the Panthers. He barreled into the Boston captain in front of both benches, with his fist catching Marchand above the shoulders and eventually leading to his removal from the game.

You can find video of the play here.

Panthers coach Paul Maurice obviously didn’t see anything wrong with the hit, believing Bennett didn’t throw a punch.

“No, and I don’t think most of you would either. It was just a collision,” Maurice said, per Michael Russo of The Athletic. “In a perfect world, every team has everybody healthy. Nobody likes to see anybody hurt.”

Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery felt differently.

“I’ve got to be honest, my eyes weren’t on there, the puck had left that area so my eyes weren’t on the exact play” Montgomery said Saturday, per team-provided video. “Having seen it, there’s a history there with Bennett. He’s a good, hard player, but there’s clearly evidence of what went on. People can say it wasn’t intentional, but we have our view of it.”

It was a clear message on the part of Montgomery, who hasn’t been critical of the referees all postseason, despite the Bruins finding themselves on the wrong end of a few questionable calls. It’s become clear in recent seasons that the best way to exact change is to be public with your feelings, and perhaps that will be the case heading into Game 4 on Sunday.

The B’s and Panthers will take the ice at 6:30 p.m. ET at TD Garden. NESN will have you covered with pregame and postgame coverage.