Sheldon Keefe sounds off on Brad Marchand's antics after Game 3
Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe had some strong words for Bruins captain Brad Marchand's antics with Tyler Bertuzzi that resulted in Trent Frederic's tying goal.
Late in the first period, Tyler Bertuzzi and Brad Marchand renewed their hatred for each other during a battle in the Leafs' zone that began in the corner and carried to the front of the net.
Both players took each other down, but once they exited the Leafs' zone, Marchand took both of Bertuzzi's feet out without a penalty call. While they were engaged, Boston's Trent Frederic skated into the zone and let a shot go that surprised Ilya Samsonov, beating him short side to tie the game at one.
Following the game, Sheldon Keefe was asked about Marchand and how the Leafs can contain him.
"You have to recognize it is a world-class player both in ability and in how he plays with the gamesmanship and everything. It is world-class.
He has been in the league long enough that, as you can see, he gets calls. It is unbelievable, actually, how it goes. We have to play through that stuff. I don't think there is another player in this series who gets away with taking out Bertuzzi's legs like he does.
There isn't another player in this series that gets away with that, but he does. It is an art. He is elite at it."
To me, it almost sounded like Keefe was calling attention to the officials than anything else, as if to plead with them to watch Marchand more closely in Game 4 on Saturday.
With two days off, it will be interesting to see how the NHL reacts to Keefe's comments and whether or not they view his remarks as criticism towards NHL officials. It will also be interesting to see if Keefe changes his plan to try to contain Marchand and his antics.
POLL |
AVRIL 25 | 615 ANSWERS Sheldon Keefe sounds off on Brad Marchand's antics after Game 3 Do the refs show favourtism to Brad Marchand? |
Absolutely | 502 | 81.6 % |
No, I don't think so | 113 | 18.4 % |
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