Since he made his mark in the NHL as a fiery agitator in the 2010-11 playoffs, Brad Marchand had never missed a post-season game, showing up for all 156 Stanley of those Cup games.

That is a feat in and of itself, considering how many opposing players have wanted a piece of him.

But when the Bruins line up for the pivotal Game 4 of their series against the Florida Panthers on Sunday, Marchand – the B’s all-time franchise leader in playoff goals – won’t be able to suit up, as he was ruled out by coach Jim Montgmery in the morning.

Montgomery would not say whether the B‘s captain had suffered a concussion, though that was certainly the implication after he was wobbled on a sneaky punch by the Panthers’ Sam Bennett in the first period of Florida’s 6–2 win in Game 3. Bennett escaped any supplemental disccipline from the league.

Bennett, a pretty tough customer to be sure, also escaped any retribution from the Bruins in that game. As he usually does, Montgomery took the blame for that.

“I feel that that’s my fault that we didn’t retaliate to some degree,” said Montgomery. “But you’re trying to get back in the game and it’s 1-0 until they get the four-minute power play, then we score right away in the third period and now we’ve got juices going. So there’s reasons why we didn’t. But again, I think there’s something that I personally take responsibility for that.”

Asked how Marchand was doing, Montgomery said, “Brad’s in the team meetings. He’s doing well. It’s day-to-day.”

Montgomery parsed his words carefully, but he made it clear his didn’t like the Bennett punch when he was asked about it again on Sunday morning.

“I don’t think I classified it as dirty (on Saturday). I just thought it was outside the lines. I think it was someone who plays the game on the edge and he knew what he was doing. I don’t know if you’ve seen the picture from behind, but clearly he loaded up,” said Montgomery.

Part of the problem with the lack of in-game response was that Bennett was so good at concealing it. Trent Frederic said that he didn’t know exactly what happened on the play until after the game was over.

“During the game, it was kind of hard to know it was a dirty hit,” said Frederic. “I don’t think we all knew how bad it was. I think guys have now seen the replay slowed down and seen what he did. At the time, I don’t think we knew how bad it was.”

the B’s may have been slow to boil, but Frederic said the room was not happy.

“I think it pissed off everyone,” said Frederic. “I think this whole team (Florida) kind of ticks everyone off, to be honest. There’s some individuals that maybe get guys more frustrated or mad. But there may be frustration, but you’ve still got to go out and do the job. We’re still down 2-1 and we want to make 2-2.”

To his point, exacting vengeance in the playoffs is a lot harder than it is in the regular season, especially when you consider the Florida power play torched the B’s for four goals in the Game 3.

“There could be a time in the game where (retribution) could happen. That’s something that might be addressed. It’s just that it’s a 2-1 series. We have to be smart, too. We’ve given them a lot of power plays already. We have to limit that,” said Frederic.

“It’s a real fine line. I’m sure all these refs are aware of what happened the last three games and the last game…In a great world, we could just go do something about it and go eyeball to eyeball, but sometimes that’s not exactly how it works.”

Pavel Zacha said the B’s need to make life hard on Florida’s best players.

“It was not a good hit but I think we really have to go after their top guys and let them know that’s not OK. That’s something to go after our captain. That’s not OK with us and we’re ready to be physical again and be a little harder on them,” said Zacha.

Regardless of how they were going to respond, the B’s were going into an important playoff game without their captain, their inspirational leader and a very good player.

“It’s not going to be one guy, it’s got to be all of us as a group,” said Frederic of how to replace Marchand. “He brings more of what you just see on the ice, so we have to do that as well and have a lot of guys step up and talk. He’s obviously a vocal leader as well. On the ice, his actual play is going to be hard to make up for, but we’ll have to do it as a group.”

It would not be unprecedented for the loss of a key player to have a galvanizing effect on the rest of the team, at least in the short term.

Said Montgomery: “It can be, it has been, it should be tonight, with who our captain is.”…

The Bruins went into Game 4 needing more from Pavel Zacha. He had one shot on net in the previous two games and he has yet to score a playoff goal in 22 post-season games in his career. He also had a bad giveaway that led to Florida’s first goal in Game 3.

In Saturday’s practice, Montgomery had him centering a third line with James van Riemsdyk and Justin Brazeau.

“I think Pav in Game 7 (against Toronto) played really well for us and I think he needs that attitude,” said Montgomery. “And also, we’ve moved him to third line center, just for tonight, because I think it helps the Bruins with situational matchups.”

Zacha, who has played most of the year with David Pastrnak, was on board with the switch.

“We had a good conversation with Monty about where I’m going to be and I thnk it’s great for me be at center. We need every lline going and it’s a great opportunity to hep the team,” said Zacha, who had ceded the center responsibilities to Morgan Geekie.

His assessment of his own play?

“The first two games in Florida were good and the last wasn’t good enough for where I would have wanted to play,” said Zacha. “That’s something where you play one game at a time and I’m excited to show again that I can be a difference maker again in a game and help the team.”…

As usual, Montgomery wasn’t going to announce his lineup in the morning, but after the optional morning skate, the skaters left on the ice were defensemen Derek Forbort, Matt Grzelcyk and Kevin Shattenkirk, suggesting Forbort was going to be a scratch and Parker Wotherspoon was going back in. Also, Linus Ullmark stayed out late with third goalie Mike DiPietro, indicating Jeremy Swayman wold get the call again.