Prior to Tuesday’s game against the Senators, Brad Marchand was named one of the Bruins alternate captains thanks to injuries to Chris Kelly and David Krejci. That won’t last long, however, thanks to the latest ruling from the NHL Department of Player Safety.

On Wednesday, the league announced Marchand’s three-game suspension for clipping Sens defenseman Mark Borowiecki during the Bruins’ wild 7-3 win over their Atlantic Division rivals just 24 hours ago at TD Garden. With Krejci’s injury and the B’s upcoming Winter Classic showdown with the Montreal Canadiens at Gillette Stadium on New Year’s Day, the timing couldn’t have been worse for Marchand.

“It was a simple play,” Marchand told reporters about the clip after Tuesday’s contest. “I mean, I was trying to get to the puck carrier, and I turned up ice and he was kind of standing there. I just turned up and tried to go to the puck carrier.”

In addition to his assessment of the play, Marchand noted that the aftermath was out of his control. Obviously, he was right.

Here is a video of the ruling from the Player Safety Department.

“The onus here, is on Marchand to avoid this hit entirely,” the video states. “Instead, with Borowiecki unprepared for contact, Marchand drops to the ice suddenly and veers directly into Borowiecki’s knees, and then uses his upper body to toss Borowiecki over his shoulder onto the ice.”

The ending to Tuesday’s Bruins-Sens game was already enough for the bad blood to carry over to the next meeting between these two teams as they combined for 82 penalty minutes in the final two minutes of play. Marchand is eligible to return to the Bruins lineup on January 9th — a week from Saturday — in Ottawa. That will just add a little extra incentive for both squads in another pivotal Atlantic Division matchup.