Boston Bruins' Brad Marchand leery after second suspension of NHL season

SEATTLE — After his second suspension of the season, Boston's Brad Marchand knows there's little room for acting out given the next level of discipline could be far more punitive.

Marchand returns from his six-game suspension on Thursday night when the Bruins open a lengthy road trip with a game against the Seattle Kraken. Marchand was punished for roughing and high-sticking Pittsburgh goalie Tristan Jarry in a game on Feb. 8.

With 25 seconds to play, Marchand threw a punch at Jarry's head and poked the goaltender's mask with his stick as a linesman was escorting him away from the fray.

«Obviously, I think what I'm taking away from this is my threshold is very low right now,» Marchand said Thursday. «So I really just have to stay away from anything at all, which I can do. I've been able to do it for a number of years now. And again, it's just wrapping my mind around that and accepting it, whether you agree with it or not, and move forward within the rules that I now understand are set for me.»

Marchand appealed the suspension but NHL commissioner Gary Bettman upheld it. Marchand said he will not appeal the suspension any further, choosing to put the latest incident in the past rather than take it to an independent arbitrator.

He was previously suspended three games for slew-footing a Vancouver player in late November. He's been suspended eight times in his career.

«I wanted to kind of get a better understanding of where they were coming from, how they got to the decision, because we felt like it was a little excessive,» Marchand said. «Not just this one, but the last one as well. So we wanted to, again, just hear them out.»

Despite missing nine games this season due to the suspensions, Marchand is still tied for the team