Brad Marchand made sure to say that the officiating in the Bruins’ 2-1 loss to the Washington Capitals did not factor in their defeat. But it’s clear he wasn’t a fan of it, or across the league in general this year.

Marchand’s biggest problem was with what he viewed as inconsistency from referees Chris Lee and Jon McIsaac. He particularly did not like a hooking penalty on Charlie Coyle in the first period that led to a 5-on-3 goal for the Caps.

It wasn’t exactly a rant, but Marchand let his feelings be known.

“They called a really, really suspect penalty on Coyle there early in the game and if you’re going to call it like that, then you can’t let some of the stuff go that they let go,” said Marchand. “And that’s part of the problem this whole year. It’s just inconsistent. They’ll make a call like that and (Taylor Hall) gets hauled down in front of the net in the second period and there’s nothing. Again, that has nothing to do with the outcome of the game but they had a tough night.”

There was also a questionable tripping call on David Krejci in the period against Erik Gustafsson in which it appeared that Krejci had won a simply puck battle. And while he didn’t mention it after the game, Marchand also appeared to be low-bridged by Martin Fehervey that could have been an interference penalty late in the first period.

“Either you call everything chintzy like they did on (Coyle) or you let it all go,” said Marchand. “You can’t go half and half throughout the game. Guys have no idea what they can or can’t do. That’s part of it.”

Coach Jim Montgomery and his staff have identified an area that cried out for an upgrade and that is in giveaways.

Going into Saturday’s game, they had the 11th most giveaways in the league with 451. That’s not a ranking that is commensurate with their standing in the league.

Montgomery conceded that turnovers can be a double-edged sword – creative players will always cough the puck up – but he believes the B’s can and must protect it better.

“I’ve always believed that the team that makes the most plays is going to win. And it’s a fine line how much you do. When we analyze our first half of the year, an area we need to clean up is turnovers,” said Montgomery before the B’s tilt against Washington. “Now if you’re harping on turnovers all the time, you’re not scoring as many goals as we have. But we have to recognize when there’s time to make a play and when there’s not. That’s what we’re trying to improve. We sit somewhere at 15th or 16th in the league in odd-man rushes against, and that’s not good enough if we want to be really effective coming down the stretch and in the playoffs. So we’re starting to talk about that more. I don’t like using the word turnover, I like using the words ‘where is the open ice, where can we possess? Is it behind them or is it in front of them?’ That’s where if we show our team enough film, we think they’re going to learn because we think we have an intelligent hockey team.”

It’s no surprise that the leader in that department, both for the B’s and the league, is David Pastrnak with 75. And if you look at the top 10, you’ll find he’s in the company of many terrific offensive players like Matt Barzall, Nikita Kucherov, Evgeni Malkin and Leon Draisaitl.. Montgomery does want him to create like Pastrnak and few others can. But he does believe it can be modified a touch.

“Players like Pasta are great players because they don’t see a play they can’t make. And that’s why they’re elite. And he does have the ability to turn something out of a nothing,” said Montgomery. “What we’re try to do is try and help him understand when you’;re feet are moving, you can do whatever you want. But when you’re getting a puck off the wall and standing still, that’s where maybe you put it in and let someone else go get it and get it back.”

Montgomery has raved about the Bruins’ built-in culture since the moment he took over and continued to do so on Saturday. He said the fact that he doesn’t have to worry about policing the room frees him up to do more actual coaching.

“I do less because of the trust that I have in the leadership and it allows me to actually do more as far as structure and Xs and Os,” said Montgomery. “I feel like I have more time to do what coaches love to do, which is come up with a real good game plan the players to execute. Because they’re so good in execution and effort, you know quickly if your plan’s working or not, so it’s makes it easier to make adjustments. Because of them being so professional and being such a good group of leaders, it makes your job a lot easier to do your job.” …

After Jakob Lauko’s soft clear attempt was picked off by Garnet Hathaway for a goal midway through the second period, the rookie did not see the ice again.