Bruins captain and coach talk about their viral bench move

BOSTON – Brad Marchand said he didn't even know that the exchange between him and Jim Montgomery on the Bruins' bench had become the topic of conversation in their overtime loss to Utah, and expressed surprise when he found out.

After a Marchand turnover led to a Utah goal that was eventually overturned for offside, cameras caught Montgomery angrily accosting his captain on the bench and then shoving him in the shoulder.

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Marchand said he deserved the criticism.

“People are very sensitive these days and it's unfortunate how coaches come under scrutiny for things like this. There is a lack of responsibility these days because people cannot cope with the heat,” he said. “If you make a mistake like that, you deserve to hear about it. I'm glad he said something about it. If he didn’t, we would have a much bigger problem.”

Marchand was more upset about the audit of the exchange than the actual exchange.

“The fact that we're talking about this is disappointing, but that's how things are,” Marchand said. “There is accountability in this room and no one is exempt from it. I made a really bad mistake and at a bad time in the game. This is something that is not acceptable. I expected to hear about it, not just from him but from a number of people on the bench. I should be held accountable in this situation. I’m glad he did.”

Montgomery said there was no kidnapping and that he and Marchand did not discuss it after the fact.

“There didn’t have to be a conversation between Marchy and me. He and I are both emotional people. I'm not happy about it, but I don't think about it afterwards and neither does he,” he said. “He is a professional. He is a great player who does so much good for us and he also has high expectations.”

“It’s done for us. “You have to be able to hold your best players accountable and turnovers were a big problem for us early this year,” Montgomery said. “I'm fortunate that I have the leaders that I have here, so I can have a tough, solid relationship and also build a relationship where they can come to me if there's something they think is wrong with the way we play “not right” or whatever.”

Montgomery said he understands which players would benefit from aggressive coaching right now and which wouldn't.

“You don’t see that with a young player,” he said. “We will talk to them and show them videos. But with a player like him or (David) Pastrnak, I can just talk to them right there on the bench.”