Bruins' Brad Marchand licks opponent's face

BOSTON — Fights are common in hockey, but Boston’s Brad Marchand insists on getting in the last lick.

The Bruins' winger rocked Tampa Bay's Ryan Callahan with a hit along the boards during Game 4 of their second-round NHL playoff game in Boston. When Callahan took offense and shoved Marchand in the face, the Bruins' player tried to press his face and tongue against the Lightning player's face, ESPN reported.

“Well, he punched me four times in the face, so -- you know, he just kept getting close," Marchand said after the Lightning’s 4-3 overtime victory gave Tampa Bay a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series. “Nothing big.”

"I don't know what's going through Marchand's mind," NBC Sports Network analyst Keith Jones said during the intermission between periods.

"I hope the league looks at it," Callahan said. "I don't know if there is discipline for spitting in someone's face. But for me it's worse, if not the same."

When told that Callahan referred to Marchand as "spitting" at him instead of licking him, Marchand said, "That's cute. Good for him."

It wasn’t the first time Marchand had attempted a licking gesture -- he was caught on camera licking Toronto’s Leo Komarov in the Bruins’ first-round series, ESPN reported. The antics did not sit well with Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper.

"There is absolutely no place in our game for that," Cooper told reporters. ”I don't get it. I don't understand it. I don't. How would you feel if I walked over to you right now and gave you one big lick from the chin up?"

"It's not part of hockey," Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman told reporters. “It's not part of any sports at all."

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