Bruins player understands eyes are on him for physicality against Panther

After Sam Bennett knocked out Bruins captain Brad Marchand in Game 4 and maybe Game 5, many turned to Pat Maroon to settle the score with the Panthers forward.

The forward was looking for someone to fight with, even challenging the Panthers bench in Boston’s Game 4 loss. Maroon was aware that eyes would be on him due to his past of not being afraid to fight, but his challenges never materialized.

“I’m torn between doing something and doing nothing. “I’m sure everyone is wondering why I haven’t done anything,” Maroon explained on Monday. “I’ll sit here and claim I’ve tried and don’t want to do anything. I adore my captain and the lads. Trust me, it’s a tough profession, and everyone expects me to accomplish something. Thankfully, I tried. I’m trying. We can’t really focus on it. It’s over and done with. We need to focus on winning a hockey game right now.

“It’s aggravating that you’re trying to do a narrative right now for (expletive) nothing. Like, we need to win a (expletive) hockey game. That is what it comes down to. We need to flip the page. “We have to find a way,” he added. “You may sit here and say I am not doing my job. But, as I have stated, I’m torn between doing it and not. I don’t want to put my team in peril. I do not wish to take a suspension. I do not want to put my team on the penalty kill. I am doing everything I can. So we may sit here and say, “I am not.” Maybe I am not.

But I talked to my captain, I talked to the guys in that locker room. They know and they know that I care. That’s the most important thing.”

In Game 5, the Bruins will go to Florida with their backs against the wall. Maroon stated that if Boston wants to win hockey games, they must “get back to the basics.”

“We held a 2-0 advantage. We didn’t give ourselves a chance and didn’t perform well… “That’s not good enough right now,” he stated. “We cannot sit there and make excuses about who is to blame. We currently have 25 people in our locker room. And we need to find it out.”

“… Bruins hockey is simple,” Maroon explained. “… I believe we need to put more pressure on them in the defensive zone. We haven’t done a good enough job with that. We need to execute better… “Offensively, I believe we should put them under more pressure.”

Game 5 is scheduled for Tuesday night at 7 p.m. EST.