Maple Leafs Coach Sheldon Keefe Tips His Hat To Brad Marchand’s Gamesmanship

The Boston Bruins took a hard-fought victory in Game 3 against the Toronto Maple Leafs and their captain Brad Marchand had his fingers all over it.

In fact, it was such a perfect example of a peak Brad Marchand game that even Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe had to acknowledge it.

"You got to recognize he’s a world-class player both in ability and how he plays with the gamesmanship and everything. It’s world-class," Keefe said after the game, per NESN. 

"He’s been in the league long enough as you can see. He gets calls. It’s unbelievable, actually, how it goes. We got to play through that stuff. I don’t think there’s another player in this series that gets away with taking out Bertuzzi’s legs the way that he does. There’s not one other player in this series that gets away with that, but he does."

This isn't news to anyone who has watched hockey over the last 15 years or so, but Marchand's style of play is built for the postseason. He toes the line of decency — sometimes stepping over it (like the time the league had to tell him to stop licking people) — and can get under people's skin like a parasite. He's one of the league's ultimate examples of a player you hate… unless he's on your team.

Why do you think they call him "The Rat?" It's not because he's a perennial frontrunner for the Lady Byng.

This makes Marchand a nightmare in a seven-game series and the Leafs are seeing that yet again. He's got six points through just three games, including the game-winner and an empty-netter on Wednesday, but it's not just the scoring that is a problem for Toronto. 

Marchand's borderline (which is putting it mildly it, it was a trip) take-down of Tyler Bertuzzi allowed Trent Frederic to take advantage of the extra room to tie the game at 1-1 in the first period.

That was just one of the times that Bertuzzi — who played for the Bruins late last season — and Marchand came together.

Game 4 will be on Saturday in Toronto, and it'll be interesting to see if and how the Leafs try to contain Marchand, something that is much easier said than done.