Had it not been for Jarome Iginla’s game-winner in overtime, Brad Marchand would’ve had quite the heat from Bruins fans and local sports radio.

With Red Wings goalie Jonas Gustavsson out of position, Marchand missed an opportunity to bury the puck in the open net not just once, but twice. It was a chance that doesn’t come too often, but his whiffs could have cost the Black and Gold in Game 4 Thursday night.

Luckily, his teammates picked up the slack. Tuukka Rask had another stellar performance, while Carl Soderberg’s nifty pass to Milan Lucic made the highlight reels, and of course Iginla’s game-winner earned him a kiss from Marchand himself.

Instead of dwelling about those chances, Marchand was able to laugh about it the day after.

“There’s no doubt guys are joking about it. He is even more relaxed today,” head coach Claude Julien said on Marchand’s missed chances on Friday. “Two open nets and those are the things that are going to happen. But at the end of the day, when you win those games it makes it a lot easier. I’m sure had it been the other way around, a lot of people would’ve lacked some sleep last night. But we are able to laugh about it and it’s just part of the game. It happens and it’s not the first time that that has happened, and it won’t be the last.”

More likely than not, those empty netters go in for Marchand. It just so happens that he was on the wrong end of things.

Two days later, the sharp-dressed Marchand was still smiling as he awaited questions from the press during the Bruins pregame media availabilty prior to Game 5.

“I think that’s all you can do,” Marchand said about Game 4. “I think if I had 10 more chances, I don’t think I could miss them even if I tried – from that spot on the second one anyway. But you can laugh it off after that. Those things happen in hockey and if you dwell on it too much, it’s going to effect your game. The big thing is is to prepare for today and make sure we play our best game possible.”

As the “great philosopher” and New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick once said, “do your job.” As long as Marchand and the rest of the Boston Bruins do their job, they’ll be celebrating a first round victory at the TD Garden on Saturday.