Enough games have been played to properly summarize Brad Marchand in his rookie season: He plays scrappy, he kills penalties and he talks. A lot. It’s a desirable skillset for a player like Marchand, whose combination of skill and the ability to bug teams just enough to draw penalties landed him on the second line as a rookie. 

Yet with the good of Marchand’s game — he scored his fifth shorthanded goal of the season when he got the Bruins on the board just over two minutes into the second period against the Maple Leafs Thursday — comes the bad. By the end of the second period, after a scrum in which he said Phil Kessel punched him in the mouth, Marchand made like Happy Gilmore ... only rather than bringing hockey to the golf course, he brought golf to the ice. The 22-year-old skated by the Maple Leafs bench and, peeking a couple of weeks into their future, took a golf swing.

“That was a little immature of me,” Marchand said after the game. “I shouldn’t have done that.”

It isn’t the first time Marchand’s efforts to get inside opponents’ heads have left him regretting it. Earlier in the year, Marchand spoke of “the look,” which he would get from coach Claude Julien when his trash-talking went too far. Thursday, he got more than a look for his actions.  

“I got a little bit of an earful,” Marchand said. “It won’t happen again.” 

The rookie doesn’t regret the way he carries himself on the ice. Having a player capable of getting opponents off their games is extremely beneficial, and Marchand knows that it can be very helpful. Though he enjoys playing the role, he knows that it can easily be taken too far. 

“I think it’s a big part [of my game],” he said. “It just gets me emotionally involved and brings a different element — but at the same time, you don’t want to cross the line. I’ve been doing that a little bit lately.”

Marchand was suspended earlier in the month for his elbow to the head of Blue Jackets forward R.J. Umberger, and he hopes that his chippy style of play doesn’t end up being confused with dirty. He has outspoken about many things, one of which is the play of Penguins forward Matt Cooke, whom he said needed to be “taught a lesson” by the league to prevent him from hurting another player the way Cooke did Marc Savard. 

Yet while Marchand has confidence that he can avoid a dirty play when it’s in front of him, he admittedly is still learning how to avoid taking it too far when it comes to jawing. He said he knows where the line is, but that doesn’t mean he can always stop himself from crossing it.

“It’s tough, because a lot of it is heat of the moment stuff,” Marchand said. “I think I have a good idea of where the line is. It’s just that sometimes my emotions get the best of me. I think the biggest thing to do is make sure that I can control my emotions better. I think that’s what I have to work on. It’s not so much knowing where the line is, but it’s controlling my emotions.”

Like anyone who watches him, the Bruins seem to know what they’re going to get out of Marchand. Andrew Ference is not the type to blindly defend a teammate, as he correctly pointed out that Daniel Paille’s hit on Raymond Sawada was dirty, so his opinion on the rookie’s antics would seem valuable. 

Yet after Thursday’s game, Ference admitted that he knows so little about trash-talking that he couldn’t identify with what is right and wrong. He said he heard the earful Julien gave Marchand, but didn’t know what it was about. When told it was because of a golf swing, Ference replied, “What does that even mean?” before laughing at the realization. 

“Sorry,” he said of how long it took him to understand the implication. “I don’t chrip so … I’m the last guy to say anything on the ice. Certain guys play with a certain edge, and do what they do. I don’t know anything about that. I’d be in a lot of trouble if I tried verbal sparring with people. I leave that to guys that like to do it. I’m neutral on the issue.”

One guy who is not neutral when it comes to hoping Marchand can find the right balance is his coach. 

“He’s been a good player for us and again, his emotions sometimes can be a positive, but sometimes you don’t want to cross the line,” Julien said. Certainly you don’t like that when that happens. So it’s just a learning process.”

From a learning standpoint, Marchand is definitely bright enough to have a pretty good idea of what’s right and wrong. It seems control will remain the biggest “if” with the youngster. 

“It can go either way,” Marchand said, “so you have to make sure you [carefully] walk that line.”