Down two games to one in their second round series against Florida Panthers and in danger of playing their last home game on Sunday, the Bruins took to their practice sheet in Brighton on Saturday without the usually durable captain Brad Marchand.

And there was an underlying feeling that they were without their captain, who was termed day-to-day by coach Jim Montgomery, because of a dastardly deed by the Panthers’ Sam Bennett.

In the first period of the B’s 6-2 loss to the Panthers on Friday night, Marchand went in for a hit on Bennett at the end of a shift near the benches and, at first blush, it appeared the Bruin simply got the worst of a clean collision.

But on further review of the video that has been dissected by Bruins Nation more than the Zapruder film, it appears as though Bennett hit Marchand in the jaw with a sneaky rabbit punch with his stick on his right hand just before body contact was made. The NHL did not see anything worthy of supplemental discipline.

While Montgomery did exactly lobby for any with reporters on Saturday, he made it clear that Bennett’s actions were not kosher in his eyes.

“In real time, I’ve got to be honest, my eyes weren’t on there because the puck had left that area, so my eyes weren’t on the exact play. But having seen it, there’s a history there with Bennett. A good, hard player. But there’s clearly evidence of what went on. People could say it wasn’t intentional. We have our view of it,” said Montgomery.

Marchand looked wobbly going to the bench. He would return to play but he did not come out for the third period.

As for Bennett’s history, he pulled a similar maneuver on Toronto’s Matthew Knies in the playoffs last year. Bennett was carrying the puck behind his own net and Knies moved in for a hit but Bennett clocked him upside the head, concussing the young player. He was not penalized on that play, though he did get fined for another high cross-check on Michael Bunting in the same game.

Meeting with reporters at the team hotel on Saturday, Panthers coach Paul Maurice said he did not see anything untoward on the Bennett-Marchand exchange.

Asked if he saw a punch, Maurice said, “No, and I don’t think most of you would, either. It was just a collision. In a perfect world, every team has everybody healthy. Nobody likes to see anybody hurt.”

Maurice, of course, saw nothing wrong with Matthew Tkachuk punching David Pastrnak when he was down in Game 2. He also found nothing wrong with Scott Walker’s sucker punch of Aaron Ward back in 2009 when his Caroline Hurricanes beat the B’s in seven games. But you expect any coach to defend his player in the midst of a heated playoff series. That’s the way it goes.

But it seems that the oft-suspended Marchand, not exactly beloved around the league, doesn’t get the same kind of protection from the NHL’s Department of Player Safety.

And it certainly sounded like the B’s were preparing to play the pivotal Game 4 without their captain, a veteran of 156 playoff games.

“You never want to see someone go down and not be able to come back, especially a guy who’s your leader and your best player. You want everybody to be healthy and everyone to chip in. But that’s an opportunity for guys to step up and we can do that,” said Charlie Coyle. “You saw Toronto do that against us earlier with (Auston) Matthews out. They come together and put together a couple of good games without him. So it’s just an opportunity for us. I think you’ll see guys take on more responsibility and opportunity and rise to that occasion.”….

While Bennett may have gotten away with the punch, it is not the reason that the B’s are in the current precarious position in this best-of-seven. If the B’s want to make this a series, they have to break pucks out cleaner and spend more time in the Florida zone. That has not been happening in the last five periods of hockey.

What’s the key to that?

“I would say guys wanting the puck. You can have the best laid plans in the world, if guys don’t want the puck, it’s not going to work,” said Montgomery. “We’ve got to have a combination of a better plan, we’ve got to have better execution and we’ve got to have guys who want to hang onto pucks and want to the puck.”

The Florida forecheck can be daunting, but Montgomery believes it also makes the Panthers vulnerable.

“You win those battles, you want the puck and you will get odd-man rushes,” said Montgomery. “You’re biggest strength is also your weakness. It doesn’t matter what you do in life as a personality, a company or as a team. There’s space behind. It’s up to us to get to that space behind.”…

In Saturday’s practice, it appeared as though Montgomery would be sticking with the third pair of Derek Forbort and Andrew Peeke, though he said both players had their issues in Game 3, which was the first time they played together.

“I thought Peeke was good but he wasn’t as good as he’s been. And that’s a timing issue. You’re going in the Stanley Cup playoffs and that’s hard when you’ve been out for whatever, even if it’s just two weeks,” said Montgomery. “Forbort? Defended well. Offensively, he needs to move his feet more and he needs to put himself in positions to support and keep connected as five guys.”…

Danton Heinen, who has been out since Game 5 of the first round with an undisclosed injury, skated on a line with Charlie Coyle and Trent Frederic and appears ready to return…

Charlie McAvoy was sporting a nasty black eye as well as stitches on his right eyelid. The stiches were earned in Game 2 and the rest of it from a helmet to th head in Game 3.

“It’s a pretty good one, right?” said McAvoy with a smile. “It’s a good shiner. My Mom still thinks I’m handsome.”