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The Boston Bruins are fighting to stay alive in the Stanley Cup playoffs following the Game 4 3-2 loss against the Florida Panthers at TD Garden on Saturday, May 12.
Instead of focusing on the matchup and the game-by-game results, the media has turned this series into a one-man saga centered around the figure of Panthers forward Sam Bennett. Even the Bruins GM held a press conference to put the NHL on blast on Monday.
Boston will need to pull off a huge comeback against Florida by beating them in the next three games to advance to the Eastern Conference finals.
Bruins enforcer Pat Maroon sounded off on this development and called out both the media and, by extension, his teammates attempting to rally Boston as they fly to Florida for Game 5 on Tuesday, May 14.
“We gotta win a (expletive) hockey game,” Maroon stated. “That’s what it comes down to.”
“It’s frustrating that you guys are trying to do a narrative right now for (expletive) nothing, to be honest,” Maroon told reporters during his media availability on Monday, May 13, via NBC Sports Boston.
Pat Maroon Answers Back to Media Calling Him Out
The main reason for Maroon’s comments from Monday was the narrative that has been built and kept growing since Sam Bennett sucker punched Bruins captain Brad Marchand on Game 3.
Considering his role as the main enforcer on the squad, Maroon has been called out and questioned by fans and media alike. That’s because of a perceived lack of retaliation for Bennett’s actions, mostly in Game 4 when the Panthers forward added injury to insult by scoring a controversial goal.
Maroon addressed that criticism on Monday.
“I’m sure everyone’s wondering why I haven’t done anything,” Maroon told reporters. “I’ll sit here and say it’s not like I haven’t tried or that I don’t want to do anything. I love my captain, I love the guys.
“I think, trust me, it’s a tough business, and everyone’s looking at me to do something. And, unfortunately, I try. I am trying, and we can’t really focus on that. It’s over. It’s done with. We gotta focus on winning a hockey game.”
As Maroon said on Monday, it’s not that he hasn’t tried to engage in some extracurricular activity of late with whoever wanted to accept his challenge.
He exchanged words with Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky before Game 4 started. He chased Bennett on the ice at some point in the first period and then dared his teammates to, supposedly, fight him.
It’s not that Maroon–or the Bruins as a team–doesn’t want to make the Panthers pay for their antics and for injuring Brad Marchand, who was ruled out for Game 4 after already missing Game 3’s final period.
The problem is that by fighting or committing any other punishable action, Maroon would be putting his teammates in a precarious on-ice situation.
Bruins Conundrum: Retaliation at the Expense of Penalties
Incurring any penalty would give the Panthers power play opportunities, something Maroon doesn’t want his team to have to deal with because of his actions.
“You can sit here to say I’m not doing my job. Maybe, maybe I’m not. But like I said before, I’m damned if I do, damned if I don’t. And I don’t want to put my team in jeopardy,” Maroon explained on Monday. “I don’t want to take a suspension. I don’t want to put my team on a penalty kill. I’m doing everything I can.
“I talked to my captain. I talked to the guys in that locker room. They know. They know I care, and that’s the most important thing.”
Maroon avoided making any excuses about his team’s production, whether they have or have not Marchand with them on the ice.
“We can sit here and point the finger,” Maroon said. “Fortunately, that’s not what we’re going to do today. We had a 2-0 lead (in Game 3). We didn’t give ourselves an opportunity and we didn’t play good.”
The Bruins ended up losing that game 6-2 to the Panthers. They had already lost Game 2 by a 6-1 score and they dropped Game 4 3-2 on Saturday. Boston and its captain Marchand traveled to Florida on Monday to face the Panthers in a must-win Game 5 on Tuesday.
“You’ve just got to take it like that,” Maroon told reporters. “We haven’t been playing good.
“We can’t sit there and make excuses on who’s to blame. It’s the 25 guys in our locker room right now, and we’ve got to figure it out.”
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