Brad Marchand takes gutless dive to sell a penalty against Maple Leafs
In the late minutes of tonight's intense playoff matchup between the Maple Leafs and Bruins, Brad Marchand was up to his usual antics on the ice. In a scrum after a whistle, Marchand gutlessly dived to try to draw a slashing penalty.
Leafs forward Tyler Bertuzzi approached Marchand in the scrum, and gave his former teammate a light whack to the bag of the leg. In response, Marchand put on an Oscar winning performance, practically collapsing to the ice and pretending to whine in pain while down.
What's most unbelievable is that the referees still actually buy this from the 35 year old veteran, and they actually called Bertuzzi for a penalty on this play. Marchand is still respected across the league for being a winner and a veteran, but this kind of dive is one that's just embarassing to see from anyone. It looks like there might be a trend happening, because the referees were also fooled by a brutal dive for the first penalty call of the entire NHL playoffs.
As if by karma, the Leafs were able to kill the penalty to Bertuzzi, and shortly afterward Auston Matthews made an incredible play to get in on a breakaway and score the game winning goal. With the series tied 1-1 heading back to Toronto, pretty much any hockey fan can see this series will come to a dramatic finish in game 7 - as the Leafs and Bruins always do.
| POLL | ||
AVRIL 22 | 741 ANSWERS Brad Marchand takes gutless dive to sell a penalty against Maple Leafs Do you think this was a dive by Marchand or a legitimate penalty? | ||
| It was a dive | 581 | 78.4 % |
| It was a penalty | 111 | 15 % |
| See Results | 49 | 6.6 % |
| List of polls | ||
