First Montreal, now Bruins’ Brad Marchand? Canes at it again on social media

It all began, innocently enough, with a media question to Vincent Trocheck after the Carolina Hurricanes’ morning skate Tuesday in Boston:

“Would it be a stretch to say that your playing style and Brad Marchand’s playing style are kind of similar, in an agitating kind of way? Seems like you guys are in the middle of everything when you’re on the ice.”

To which Trocheck replied, “You saying I’m a rat?”

Not hearing an answer, he added, “Yeah, that’s fair.”

And with that, the fuse was lit. Social media was soon aflame.

Marchand, the Boston Bruins’ skillful but often antagonistic forward, has been called “The Rat” because of his pugnacious play and attitude. He apparently also lurks online with a keen eye.

Marchand, on an Instagram post, took a shot Tuesday at Trocheck, saying, “This is like comparing a Lambo to a Prius.” He also posted a side-by-side comparison of his career statistics with Trocheck’s from hockeyDB.com.

And then the Canes won the game, 7-1.

The Canes’ social media team had a lot of fun with that, posting the score and noting the “L” for the Bruins stood for Lamborghini.

The Canes posted a video clip of Trocheck knocking Marchand down with a clean hit at the Carolina blue line, tweeting: “Never seen a Prius total a Lambo before.”

Trocheck would have five of Carolina’s 26 hits in the game and the center was his usual pest in the Boston zone and around the net. Marchand had two shots in almost 17 minutes of ice time as no one from the Bruins played very well.

But Marchand wasn’t through with his play on the social media front. Seeing the Hurricanes’ “L stands for Lamborghini” tweet, he retorted Wednesday with a tweet, “You’re still the reason we play 20% in escrow,” an assertion about the Hurricanes’ revenues. That set off Twitter again.

Marchand doesn’t have access to the Canes’ financial records, of course, but escrow is a sore subject with the players. Twenty percent was withheld from their salaries in the 2020-21 pandemic season to assure the 50-50 split of total hockey-related revenues with the NHL.

That’s it for now. The Canes now have waged social media war with the Montreal Canadiens and the Bruins this season. The Canadiens flap, of course, came when the Canes made a successful offer sheet to Habs forward Jesperi Kotkaniemi.

Kotkaniemi, that is, who scored twice Tuesday for the Canes against the Bruins.

By the way, the Canes and Bruins play again in Boston on Feb. 10 after the NHL’s rescheduling of postponed games — time to start up the social-media engines again.

(Editor’s note: N&O reporter Chip Alexander asked the question to Trocheck after the morning skate)