Haggerty: Marchand again meeting the moment for Bruins

All three were pure sniper material from Marchand after the B’s had struggled to get anything past Columbus goalie Spencer Martin in the first two periods of play. The first was a great setup from Danton Heinen where Marchand fooled the Blue Jackets goalie when he didn’t get all of it, while the second and third were just top corner rip jobs that showed off his ability to shoot the puck.

All that was left afterward was for Marchand’s Bruins teammates to marvel at his competitiveness and ability to elevate everything about his performance when the team badly needed it.

“He's just a special player,” said Charlie McAvoy. “It's what he's done his whole career. So, it was awesome to see not only last night, but him get the winner and then carry it over to today. He means the world to this group. When he's in that zone, we just have to follow along.

"Unbelievable natural hat trick in the 3rd (period). Really felt like he just threw us on his back and said, 'I'll take us across the finish line.' He has that capability. He plays with so much passion and energy. I'm so happy for him." 

The line of questioning after the game was rightly about Marchand rising to the occasion, and even in lighter tones about the Santa hats raining down from the Garden balcony after the hat trick was secured.

For the record, Marchand picked a camo Bruins hat and a Santa lid as well as B’s players traditionally do after potting three goals in the same game on home ice.

But there was also added emotion in Marchand’s eyes as he played the Bruins hero this weekend, and it was there in the home TD Garden dressing room after his offensive fireworks were finished on Sunday. The Bruins left winger disclosed that his grandmother, Frances O’Leary, had passed away on Friday and that his gathered family were all watching him during his Hockey Night in Canada performance against the Maple Leafs on Saturday night.

“I don’t know if you could tell, but I was pretty emotional coming off the ice [in Toronto]. It kind of all hit me in that moment,” said Marchand. “It was a good moment for the family in a tough time.”

Needless to say, one thing Marchand wasn’t thinking about this weekend was going pointless in the previous five games sandwiched through the three-game Bruins losing streak. An NHL team captain has less time to worry about their own individual game while dealing with everything else happening in the day-to-day operations of a team, and Marchand is too good to be held down forever.

“I really wasn’t too concerned about it,” said Marchand, on pace for 38 goals and 79 points this season. “I felt like I was having three or four really good opportunities to score every night. That’s how the game goes sometimes. You get one shot, and you get a goal, and sometimes you’ll get 10 [shots] and you get one.

“I don’t judge my game based on if I score or not. It’s more about how the details are going and if the opportunities are there, because if you’re consistently getting them, they’re gonna go in eventually.”

Rather than being simply wowed by his dynamic impact on ice this past weekend, Marchand’s coach was impressed with the way Marchand stood tall during the losing streak while it realistically served as the first true test of a new leadership triumvirate in Marchand, McAvoy and David Pastrnak. All three stepped up with their performances and their work ethic to get back to the B’s identity when things began to stray away from them ever so much.

“I think his leadership stood out more while we were going through our adversity and losing,” said Jim Montgomery. “[It was about] how well he led us in his practice habits and helping the team dig in on the checking part of our game.”

There will be more tests, trials and tribulations for the Boston Bruins this season, and undoubtedly there will be more adversity both individually and team-wide for Marchand as the captain. But the Little Ball of Hate showed this weekend beyond a shadow of a doubt that he was worthy of being captain material, and that he’s more than capable of meeting the moment even with a slew of bigger responsibilities now on his plate.