TORONTO — Toronto Maple Leafs Coach Sheldon Keefe knew better than to publicly air grievances against the officiating after the Boston Bruins’ 4-2 win in Game 3 of a best-of-seven first-round series Wednesday night.

So Keefe got a little clever in how he sent that message. Keefe called Brad Marchand of the Bruins an artist, praising his ability to avoid getting penalties called on him.

Marchand and Tyler Bertuzzi have spent much of the series trading crosschecks, slashes, shoves and chirps during the play and behind it. The two, who were teammates in Boston last year, had an especially long back-and-forth in the second period Wednesday night that didn’t earn either player a penalty.

“You have to play through it. He’s a world-class player both in ability, and how he plays in terms of gamesmanship and everything else,” Keefe said. “He’s been in the league long enough as you can see, he gets calls. It’s unbelievable actually how it goes. No other player in the league gets away with taking Bertuzzi’s legs out the way that he does. There’s no other player in the series who gets away with what he does. It’s an art and he’s elite at it.”

Marchand didn’t get an assist on Trent Frederic’s game-tying goal, but his tussle with Bertuzzi helped create the opportunity. He set up Jake DeBrusk’s goal that put the Bruins up 2-1 and, 28 seconds after Bertuzzi tied the game, he put the Bruins back ahead 3-2.

Marchand then added an empty- netter to seal it.

Forward Matthew Knies of the Leafs said his team has to handle Marchand better.

“He wants to get under our skin and influence the refs, so I think we’ve just got to be composed and not kind of get into that (expletive),” he said. “Just play hard and make him (less) effective.”

Bertuzzi was more reserved.

“That stuff’s gonna happen,” Bertuzzi said. “It’s just normal. I mean, he’s a great player. It’s what he does. He’s been doing it for a long time. So I don’t expect it to stop.”

Bertuzzi has played a similar game to Marchand over the course of his career. He also appeared to get away with a penalty after holding Marchand’s stick at one point in Game 3.

Marchand said he and Bertuzzi get along great off the ice, but “it all goes out the window” when it comes to the playoffs.

AFTER THE Bruins’ Game 2 loss to Toronto in Boston on Monday, Coach Jim Montgomery didn’t like his team’s urgency.

“I didn’t think urgency was where it needed to be to prevail,” he said that night. “They improved from Game 1 to Game 2. We didn’t improve enough. We need to get better for Game 3.”

His team responded. In their 4-2 victory the Bruins played with more urgency from the start.

“It’s the playoffs. You have to have a response,” Jake DeBrusk said. “They had a response after Game 1. They outplayed us in that second game. We had to respond. It was our turn.”

Charlie Coyle said they found another level after falling behind 1-0 in the second period.

“The response was great. It had a lot to do with the talk on the bench. You’re in the opposing team’s building and they just scored a big goal,” he said. “It’s an important thing to have everyone talk and say, “Next shift we go out and battle them, and spray it around in the other way.”

Montgomery said he saw it coming long before game time.

“It was awesome, but it was the way we did it,” he said. “At morning skate I saw the way we were. I saw the way our captain was and I knew we were going to have a good game. I didn’t know we were going to win because the Leafs are a good hockey team, but I knew we were coming to play.”

BOB COLE, the voice of hockey in Canada for a half-century who served as the soundtrack for some of the national sport’s biggest moments, has died. He was 90.

John Shannon, a friend and fellow broadcaster, said Cole died Wednesday night in his hometown of St. John’s, the capital of Newfoundland and Labrador. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the network for which Cole worked, announced his death Thursday, adding his daughter Megan said her father had been healthy “up until the very end.”

“He’s such a legend, such a great man,” said Colorado center Nathan MacKinnon, a Nova Scotia native. “I’ve met him a few times over the years. At charity golf tournaments in Halifax, he’d come out and support Atlantic Canadians. Amazing person, super funny. Just a great guy and obviously some of the best calls of all time.”

Known for his “Oh baby!” catchphrase, Cole called some iconic games as part of CBC’s “Hockey Night in Canada.” His distinctive play-by-play style added even more flavor to the 1972 Summit Series between Canada and the Soviet Union, the 2002 Olympic final in Salt Lake City and numerous Stanley Cup finals.

BLACKHAWKS: Chicago agreed to a six-year contract with defenseman Alex Vlasic, rewarding one of its best young players with a long-term deal.

The contract runs through the 2029-30 season with a $4.6 million salary-cap hit.

Chicago went 23-53-6 this year, setting a franchise record for losses.

The 6-foot-6 Vlasic, who turns 23 in June, had two goals and 14 assists in 76 games this season. He averaged almost 211/2 minutes of ice time, ranking second on the team behind fellow defenseman Seth Jones.

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