I think we are preconditioned to be pissed about the calls in games against Montreal. This is not the NBA. Montreal flops and are cheap. But the Bruins pound away beyond the rules and it tends to even out. As far as I can tell, these two games are not even in the same stratosphere as the Detroit holding games. Good lord.
Marchand:
Marchand certainly can drive you crazy, but he is a pretty unique player in that when he sucks, he is not just floating around doing nothing. His problem, at least from my perspective on my little couch, is that he really is just trying too hard. He holds the puck too long, he commits to that little spin move over and over again down the side boards when he should just dump, he commits too many silly penalties and then (inexplicably) he seems to not be grinding that hard on defense.
All of that said, good lord, when he is going well, he is a wonderful offensive player and the idea of doing anything but waiting for Patrice to calm him down is crazy. When Marchand is on, his combination of speed or skating 'step' and stickwork is pretty unique.
I, too, would like to see him really get in Subban's grill. It is a match-up that can work well for the Bruins. They are similar players in some ways but Subban means much more to Montreal than Marchand means to Boston.
All that said, no matter how much I'd like to strangle him at times: ride that train, Marchand wins us a game or two in the next few weeks.