Brad Marchand and the art of the shorthanded goal

Marchand can turn apex predator when he goes one-on-one against a forward, which can be common in shorthanded situations. In this two-on-two break with Patrice Bergeron, Marchand notices that of the two Rangers back, one of them is right wing Pavel Buchnevich. Marchand switches with Bergeron, attacking the least-skilled defender on the ice.

Buchnevich is no match for Marchand. He stops in the high slot, completely flat-footed, a sitting duck. With Bergeron presenting as a one-timer option (stick raised, ready to shoot), Marchand keeps an eye to his left as he treats Buchnevich quite unfairly. At high speed, he tucks the puck between his skates, and outwaits a sliding Ranger while keeping an eye on Bergeron. He fits the pass through a sliver of a seam for a tap-in.

“Yeah, it was a fun one,” Marchand said. “They don’t happen very often. Just kind of got lucky catching a forward back there. But they’re always fun to be part of when it goes your way.”

“When you play against the power play,” Marchand said bluntly, “a lot of those guys are lazy defensively.”

There was nothing lazy about what Erik Karlsson was doing in this clip. It was just Marchand in shark mode.

Against the Sharks, Marchand catches a flip pass outside the opposing blue line, sets it down and goes feeding frenzy on respected veteran Karlsson (who at the time was playing through a groin injury). Marchand gives Karlsson a stick-whack before deking and going five-hole on Martin Jones.

“I think he always had determination, so the determination made up for some of his stickhandling or ability to beat guys one-on-one, because he could put pucks in areas and outwill them to get it back,” Cassidy said.

“He still does a lot of that, if you watch him. He’ll put pucks in his feet, get lower, use his core strength and sort of find it, absorb part of the hit. He’s got that great move where he puts the puck out front of them and as the defender goes to poke-check it, he whacks his stick away and goes around him, gets him off-balance. He still does that to a lot of guys, especially newer guys in the league.

“That’s a move he’s perfected.”

Said Sharks broadcaster Bret Hedican over a replay: “Quick acceleration, impressive cutbacks, vision, hands, compete. Yeah, the Little Ball of Hate – you hate him because of plays like this.”

Marchand burst onto the scene in the Bruins’ championship run in 2011. His speed was evident in this clip from Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final, when he blew past all five Canucks on the ice.

In the neutral zone, Marchand snatches the puck from Daniel Sedin and punches it through the stick of Henrik Sedin, then heads toward three defenders – Alex Edler, Christian Erhoff, and Ryan Kesler. They scramble after Marchand, who slips through coverage with a self-pass off the right-wing boards and holds off Kesler in the slot with strength and edgework. The puck is rolling on its edge, but Marchand has created enough speed to roof it over Roberto Luongo after a simple shot fake.

“I love watching him play. I didn’t like to play against him, I can tell you that,” said Dan Lacroix, Marchand’s former junior coach, who ran the Tampa Bay Lightning penalty kill for Guy Boucher in the 2011 Eastern Conference finals. Marchand and the Bruins beat them in Game 7.

Marchand always keeps the defense guessing with his stickwork. In this example against the Capitals, he sells the pass to Patrice Bergeron, who has a step on Alex Ovechkin as he drives to the net.

Defenseman Justin Schultz slides because he thinks goalie Ilya Samsonov has the short side sealed in case Marchand shoots. But Marchand turns his skates and pulls the puck away from Schultz’s reach. He fakes a shot for a brief moment, causing the goaltender to freeze and getting Ovechkin – an all-time great at scoring goals, but not an elite defender – to attempt a shot block.

Pointing his skates toward the other side of the goal, Marchand brings the puck to his backhand, and stuffs it upstairs as Samsonov flails in his crease.

Marchand rose to elite player status in Team Canada’s win at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey. He found himself on a line with Sidney Crosby and Bruins pal Bergeron that went off for 12 goals and 25 points in six games. Marchand led the world-class tournament in goals (5-3–8).

In the opening game of the best-of-three final against Team Europe, Marchand was penalized for cross-checking 21 seconds in. The talk around him at the time, particularly in his native country: an undeniable talent, but a player who crossed the line too often.

Marchand’s ability to strike with deadly accuracy, again and again, helped change the narrative. Naturally, he did his best work on the penalty kill. Late in the clinching game, with Europe on the power play, Marchand jumped off the bench and fired from between the hash marks with 44 seconds left, beating future teammate Jaroslav Halak.

It’s hard to score shorthanded goals if you’re not a sharpshooter.  In this clip, Marchand has to reach for the pass, but quickly loads up a shot that is so hard and so well-placed that Halak can barely react.