Marchand’s tearful return a fitting end to legendary run with Bruins

COMMENTARY

In the same barn where he skated in over 500 games, Brad Marchand was out of his comfort zone.

For the first time in his 17-year NHL career, the 37-year-old winger found cheers cascading down upon him in an opponent’s rink.

And for the first time since the quick-witted agitator presumably ever etched his skates into a frozen sheet, Marchand — always primed for a chirp and a subsequent barrage of verbal barbs — was rendered speechless.

Sixteen years to the date since a pugnacious, undersized winger out of Halifax first donned a black-and-gold sweater on the Garden ice, Marchand was back on Causeway Street Tuesday night.

As evidenced by the Panthers garb draped over the veteran winger, plenty has changed for both Marchand and the Bruins over the last year.

But one would be h