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Marchand explains costly Game 7 line change

Brian Babineau / National Hockey League / Getty

Brad Marchand was brilliant during the Boston Bruins' postseason run, leading the team with 23 points, but a mental error in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final swung momentum in the St. Louis Blues' direction.

With the Bruins trailing 1-0, Jaden Schwartz crossed the blue line and chipped the puck past a flat-footed Marchand, who immediately went for a line change with just 10 seconds left in the opening frame. Alex Pietrangelo found a crack in the defense, took a pass from Schwartz, and scored to give the Blues a two-goal lead.

Had Marchand simply stayed on the ice for the last 10 seconds of the period, he likely would've been able to cover Pietrangelo.

"I don't know, they chipped it in. I thought that (Jaden Schwartz) was by himself, so I went for a change, and a couple more guys jumped up on the play," a teary-eyed Marchand told NBC Sports' Joe Haggerty after the game. "I didn't see the replay, but yeah."

The Bruins were outshooting the Blues 12-3 prior to Pietrangelo's marker and trailed by only a single goal; had they prevented St. Louis' late first-period tally, they would've entered the second period with a fair share of the momentum on home ice.

Boston head coach Bruce Cassidy agreed the goal shifted the game in the Blues' favor. He didn't single out Marchand but said there was a "missed assignment" on the play.

“The second (goal) we just didn't manage the puck. We kind of missed an assignment and they made a play," Cassidy said. "A nice play by Pietrangelo but you're probably (talking) a different game if it's 1-0 coming out of the first, I do believe that.

"I'm not saying that we would have won or we would have lost. I'm not a mind reader. But I do believe that it gave them a lot of juice for a period that they, you know if they looked at it objectively, probably felt or should have felt that they got outplayed, but they're up 2-0 on the scoreboard. That's all that matters."

Marchand was one of the more emotional Bruins players after the defeat, saying he'd "never get over" the Game 7 loss.

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