FHN Today: Brad Marchand Now Part of Florida Panthers Lore

SUNRISE — These days, Brad Marchand really seems to enjoy having his Florida Panthers teammates take aim at him with rubber rats tossed onto the ice by fans after wins.

Following Friday’s 5-4 win — one Marchand ended in overtime — he is now part of Panthers lore.

One doesn’t just win a playoff game in overtime and not join a pretty exclusive club.

Boy, did the Panthers need it.

Marchand’s goal with 4:33 left in overtime gave new life to the Panthers push to repeat as Stanley Cup champions.

A loss to the Leafs and Florida would be staring down elimination on Sunday night.

Instead, they keep going.

Toronto leads this best-of-7 series 2-1; Florida is still ticking.

“It’s a blur, honestly,” said Marchand, who got his fourth OT playoff goal — one fewer than Carter Verhaeghe who happened to be sitting right next to him on the postgame dais.

“It all happens very quick and, you’re exhausted at that point in the game. It’s one second of a game. It could be anybody. I think what creates those opportunities are the guys doing the job that lead up to that moment.”

And, many times, it is Marchand.

“He’s a player, a performer and he scores big goals at big moments,’’ Verhaeghe said. “He’s done it all, he won a Stanley Cup. He brings so much life and energy to our group.”

Florida looked like it was closing in on elimination early with the Maple Leafs jumping all over them for a 2-0 lead less than 6 minutes in.

And then?

The Panthers got their game in gear.

Like Marchand in OT, the Panthers needed some puck luck to do it.

Sasha Barkov’s goal to make it 2-1 went off of Morgan Rielly. Then Rielly banged one in off  Marchand, Sergei Bobrovsky, and Seth Jones to make it 4-4 in the third.

Marchand’s goal went in off of, you guessed it, Rielly.

These sorts of things happen in the playoffs.

Marchand has an NHL record nine straight years of scoring a game-winning goal in the playoffs.

He sort of knows what he’s doing.

“They were tired,” said Marchand , who celebrates his 37th birthday on Sunday. “They were just kind of sitting back. They’re normally very aggressive and they were collapsed pretty low. …

“There’s some traffic in front and in overtime, there’s not a bad shot you can put at the net. Obviously, a fortuitous bounce, but that’s what happens when you put pucks there.”

Indeed.

FLORIDA PANTHERS / FHN

• Florida is back in this thing, eh?
• The Panthers needed some puck luck and they certainly got it on Friday.
• Paul Maurice made some lineup changes. More on this Sunday.
• The Panthers needed Sergei Bobrovsky to be ‘Big Game Bob’ again to get back in this series. He was on Friday night.
• Anthony Stolarz did not make the trip to Fort Lauderdale, so Joseph Woll it is.
• Joel Quenneville will be back behind an NHL bench; the former Panthers coach lands with the Ducks.
• Don’t forget to subscribe to the FHN YouTube channel to watch video interviews with the Florida Panthers throughout the postseason. Friday brought us Maurice, Reinhart, Barkov, Marchand, Verhaeghe, Jonah Gadjovich, and Craig Berube. Oh, and NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, too.

NHL LINKS / NATIONAL HOCKEY NOW

• Connor Hellebuyck turns the tables on the Stars, shutout ties series at 1.
• Nicolas Roy (ROY!) gets the max fine for cross-checking Trent Frederic in Game 2 of the Vegas-Edmonton series.
• Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin of the Pittsburgh Penguins named to the NHL All-2000s team.

2025 NHL STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS

EASTERN CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS: GAME 4

TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS @ FLORIDA PANTHERS 

Toronto leads best-of-7 series 2-1

• When: Sunday, 7:30 p.m.
• Where: Amerant Bank Arena, Sunrise
• National TV: TNT/truTV
• National Streaming: MAX
• Radio: WQAM 560-AM; WBZT 1230-AM (Palm Beach); WCTH 100.3-FM (Florida Keys); SiriusXM
• Panthers Radio Streaming: SiriusXM 932, NHL App
• Series Schedule — Game 1: @Toronto 5, Florida 4; Game 2: @Toronto 4, Panthers 3; Game 3: @Florida 5, Toronto 4 (OT); Game 4: Sunday @Florida, 7:30 (TBS/truTV); Game 5: Wednesday May 14 @Toronto TBA (ESPN); Game 6*:Friday May 16 @Florida TBA (TNT/truTV); Game 7*: Sunday May 18 @Toronto TBA (TNT/truTV).
• How They Got Here: Toronto d. Ottawa 4-2; Florida d. Tampa Bay 4-1
• This Regular Season: Panthers Won 3-1; Last Regular Season: Tied 2-2
• All-time Regular Season Series: Toronto leads 51-40-7, 7 ties
• All-time Postseason: Panthers d. Toronto 4-1 (2023 ECS)