Bruins' Marchand defends coach Montgomery after viral bench spat

Boston Bruins forward Brad Marchand is once again at the center of controversy.

On Saturday, head coach Jim Montgomery yelled at his captain and lightly pushed him onto the bench after a free kick resulted in a goal for the Utah Hockey Club.

But Marchand said in a video posted by Conor Ryan of Boston.com that he was happy with how things turned out.

“It’s unfortunate how coaches are scrutinized for things like this. There is a lack of responsibility these days because people cannot cope with the heat. “If you make a mistake like that, you deserve to hear about it,” Marchand said.

Boston lost the game 2-1 in overtime. The team sits in fifth place in the Atlantic Division with a record of 3-3-1 heading into Thursday's game against the Dallas Stars.

Marchand added that he was “glad” that Montgomery responded the way he did.

“If he didn’t, we would have much bigger problems. The fact that it's something we're talking about is disappointing, but that's how things are,” he said.

The 36-year-old Marchand had a slow start to the season by his standards, scoring no goals and registering four assists in seven games.

He is one of six players named to Team Canada for the inaugural Four Nations Faceoff in February.