The Bruins will not officially honor Brad Marchand until a pregame ceremony on Feb. 19 before the B’s Presidents’ Day matinee against the Dallas Stars (1 p.m.). But just prior to the captain’s 1,000th game on Tuesday against the Tampa Bay Lightning, Marchand’s competitiveness and unique personality were on his coach’s mind.

“I don’t know if he’s any different than what I thought,” said Jim Montgomery, who’s coached Marchand for a season and half now. “He’s a player that when you watch him play, you admire, you respect because of the compete, the effort, the emotion he plays with. He’s through and through a hockey player that galvanizes his team, gives his team life, fights for his team. I think what I thought he was going to be is what he is. And how good a teammate he is, that doesn’t surprise me.”

While Marchand is abundantly skilled, it’s the grinder in him that impresses Montgomery.

“His ability to win battles consistently, at that size, his ability too not be deterred, ever, is very impressive,” said Montgomery.

“It’s all about what’s inside you, what you’re willing to try and overcome. I guess it’s that description I gave (recently), if there’s a puck between you and I, he’s going to break my leg to get it. I know that. So does everybody who’s played against him.”

Montgomery said Marchand’s grown as a captain in the first year wearing the C.

“It’s a tremendous honor to be captain of any team. I don’t care if you’re 12 years old or 35 years old,” said Montgomery. “But it takes a while before it just gets natural to be the captain that you are … I think the adversity at Christmas helped him because the leader that he is. That’s why it’s good we’ve gone through it. And the adversity we’re facing right now with the way we’re playing lately is more adversity for more people to assert themselves in their roles.”

Marchand has also earned his reputation as one of the best chirpers in the league.

“He’s a guy that if I’m ever going to go toe-to-toe with, I better be on top of my game,” said Montgomery with a chuckle. “He’s not unarmed in a battle of wits.”

Hoping for rebound

The Bruins went into Tuesday’s game against the Lightning hoping to wipe clean the slate after a weird first week back from the eight-day All-Star break. They dominated the league-leading Vancouver Canucks in a 4-0 win but sandwiched that highlight with their two worst losses since the Christmas break.

In the 4-1 loss to Calgary Flames and 3–0 defeat at the hands of the Washington Capitals – neither of whom were in the playoff picture – the B’s managed just one 5-on-3 goal in the two low-energy losses.

As the B’s prepared to take on the Bolts on Tuesday, they acknowledged they were in that tough part of the schedule when the playoffs are getting close, but not close enough to start thinking about the post-season too much.

“It’s inevitable. You look ahead,” said Marchand. “When you’re in (playoff) position, you start getting excited about playoffs. That’s why we play. We want to have the opportunity to play for a Cup and be a playoff team. But we’re so far away. It’s right around the corner, but there are still 30 games left and a lot can happen. You want to make sure you’re playing your best game going into the playoffs. I don’t think the last few games have been indicative of us looking head. We just have to make sure we know the importance of every game. There’s pressure on other team’s, too, to get into playoff spots or to get a better position. We do want to make sure we’re playing good hockey going down the stretch here. But I really liked our practice (Monday). I thought we competed hard. That’s usually where it starts for us, when our practices are good, we do well. And when they’re not, they slip a bit.”

Jake DeBrusk echoed Marchand’s words.

“I think that’s human nature, to be honest with you,” said DeBrusk, who hadn’t had any points in the first three games after the break. “At the same time, there’s 30 games left. There’s a lot that can happen in 30 games. That’s 60 possible points and a lot of swings for other teams. It’s easy to get into that after the break and you look at the standings. You can make all the excuses, but usually it’s the other team’s best that you’re getting. There are guys on other teams that are trying to make the playoffs or they’re maybe getting traded, so they’re trying their best against one of the best teams in the league, knowing that people will be watching. It’s been that way since I’ve been here at this time of year. It’s one of those things where I don’t judge when we’ve had a couple of bad games or a couple of good games. It’s not the first couple that we wanted, but we’ve been pretty good about getting out of these ruts. We’ve just got to do our job.”

Loose pucks

Kevin Shattenkirk and Oskar Steen were back in the lineup while Parker Wotherspoon and Jakub Lauko were the scratches.