BOSTON — Bruins winger Brad Marchand is known for getting under the skin of opponents on the ice. Apparently that extends to the benches too.
With 12 seconds left in Friday’s game, New York Rangers star Artemi Panarin was given a misconduct penalty after throwing one of his gloves at Marchand as the two were on their respective benches. Marchand was also given a misconduct penalty.
As the two players were standing near the ends of their benches yelling at each other, Panarin slipped off his left glove and hurled it with his bare hand, hitting Marchand in the side as the Bruins winger raised his arm in defense.
“That one caught me off guard a little bit. I’ve had a lot of things thrown at me, but not particularly by players,” Marchand said.
New York won the game 5-2, with Panarin tallying the game-winning goal and adding an assist. Marchand had an assist on the Bruins’ second goal.
The Rangers weren’t addressing the specifics of the incident after the victory.
“No comment. It’ll all come out one day,” center Ryan Strome said. “I just don’t want to comment. I don’t think it’s my place. I guess we’ll just see what happens.”
Said coach Gerard Gallant: “I have no idea. I’m at the [other] end of the bench. I just saw both of them get tossed out. I’m just trying to coach the game.”
Asked if he was surprised by the incident, Gallant responded, “Marchy’s a great player in this league.”
Marchand was asked what could have been said to provoke Panarin to remove the glove and throw it at him.
“We were just asking each other how Thanksgiving dinner was,” Marchand said. “He didn’t like what I ate.”
The Rangers and Bruins don’t meet again until April 23 in Boston.