FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak vehemently defended their personal and professional relationship following Friday’s Bruins practice at the Baptist Health IcePlex.
“Pasta and I are best friends. We’ve had an incredibly close relationship for a long time,’’ said Marchand.
The players’ comments came after WEEI’s Rich Keefe said on air, without citing a source, that Pastrnak told the team he did not want to play on a line with Marchand. Keefe went on to speculate that Pastrnak’s reasoning was that he was unhappy with Marchand for alleged critical comments the captain made about the play of the club’s leading scorer.
Marchand spoke passionately and refuted the report.
“It’s unfortunate,’’ he said. “I know reporters have a job to do and that job is a report on the team and usually you try to be fact-based, but when there’s just blatant lies told in the media, that’s where there’s a problem.
“And the fact that this guy has a platform and he’s just making stuff up is embarrassing and there’s zero truth to anything that he said on the radio. This is how you lose a job very quickly. The fact that he’s going to have a job after this is insane.’’
Keefe described the Bruins’ locker room as “a disaster and David Pastrnak is at the center of that.’’
“The only reason we won’t play together is so that we can spread depth throughout the lineup,’’ said Marchand. “There’s zero truth to him being a problem in the room. He’s one of the most-loved guys in the room. There’s zero issues in the room at all. And the fact that they say that he’s in the center of anything is a completely fabricated lie. So, [Keefe] has zero merit to anything he’s saying. It is very frustrating because this is what happens. Obviously, we have not pulled our weight this year. We have not had the season that we’ve wanted to have, but I’m not going to let some random guy come in the media and just spit absolute nonsense.’’
Pastrnak said Marchand alerted him to the comments before practice.
“I don’t make much of it. I know how I feel about Marchy, and we love each other. I have a huge amount of respect for him,’’ said Pastrnak, an alternate captain. “So, we had a good laugh about it. It’s 100 percent false and obviously we haven’t been performing as we would want, and we haven’t been winning games. So, then it’s just human nature for people to start looking for some reasons and stuff. So, everybody has a free will to take their opinion. But this one just wasn’t it and it’s 100 percent false.’’
Pastrnak, who has 17 goals and 42 points, made it clear he’s never made demands to anyone about who his linemates should be.
“I’ve never said that in my hockey career that I don’t want to play with this guy [or that guy] to the coaching staff or management, and I would never do that,’’ he said. “And I love playing with Marchy. I’ve been playing with him for so long, so I can’t imagine going to Coach and saying, ‘Hey, I don’t want to play with this guy.’ ’’
Marchand and Pastrnak interacted as they always do during practice and were seen laughing at several points, including during a keepaway drill at the end of the session.
“Again, we have a phenomenal relationship,’’ said Marchand. “Our wives, our kids have great relationships, so we have no issues laughing about that and then putting this to bed.’’
Marchand said his initial instinct was to ignore the comments, but he changed his mind after some thought.
“I wasn’t going to talk about it, but I’m not going to let it become something that it’s not,’’ said Marchand, who has 15 goals and 33 points. “So, this guy [Keefe] can go pound sand, go back to the closet where no one knew where he was before it, and report on nothing because that’s what he’s going to be doing after this.’’
Charlie McAvoy, the other alternate captain, did not hear about the comments until after practice and called them “laughable.’’
. . .
The Bruins were without Mark Kastelic at practice after the center took a cross-check to the face that preceded a fight with Tampa Bay’s Emil Lilleberg. “He got caught up in that incident [Thursday] night and then cracked his head on the ice. And so, we’re just taking it day by day to see how it feels,’’ said coach Joe Sacco . . . Marc McLaughlin slotted on to the fourth line with Kastelic out . . . Defenseman Hampus Lindholm, who is rehabbing from a knee injury, worked out with skills coach John McLean after practice.
Jim McBride can be reached at james.mcbride@globe.com. Follow him @globejimmcbride.
