EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) — At 37, Florida Panthers forward Brad Marchand might not only be getting better with age in the 14 years since winning his first and only Stanley Cup title. Some might even suggest he’s still got his looks, too, as Marchand joked on Saturday night.
“Man, that guy’s good looking,” Marchand said with a laugh when asked what the 23-year-old version of himself might have to say in reflecting back to winning the Cup in his second NHL season with the Boston Bruins in 2011.
Looks aside, what’s definitely not changed is Marchand’s scoring touch, which has placed him in elite company in Stanley Cup Final lore.
The former Bruins captain acquired by Florida at the NHL trade deadline in March, scored twice, including being credited with the winner, in a to give the Panthers a 3-2 edge in their Cup final series. The series shifts to Florida on Tuesday night.
“Like I’ve said plenty of times, trying to enjoy the moment. It’s a pretty special group to be a part of, and I’m having a lot of fun,” said Marchand, who has scored 10 times this postseason, six in the final. “It’s just how it plays out sometimes. Sometimes you get bounces. Sometimes you don’t.”
Lucky bounces had little to do with Marchand’s goals on Saturday night, with both coming with him putting his head down, out-muscling defenders and driving to the net.
Marchand opened the scoring 9:12 in by pouncing on a loose puck off a center-ice faceoff, pushing past defender Mattias Ekholm and sneaking the puck through the legs of goalie Calvin Pickard.
some five minutes into the third period by driving up the left wing, jumping by Jake Walman, and backhanding a shot under Pickard for what stood as the decisive goal.
He became the 18th player — and oldest — to score six times in one final series, and first since Edmonton’s Esa Tikkanen scored that many in 1988. And Marchand, who scored five times in Boston’s 2011 Cup-winning final series over Vancouver, joined Mario Lemieux in becoming just the second player over the past 50 years to score five or more times in multiple Cup finals.
It also marked his 16th career playoff game-winning goal, moving Marchand into a tie for 10th on the NHL list with Jaromir Jagr and Patrick Marleau.
“He’s amazing. He’s been a leader for us,” goalie Sergei Bobrovsky said of Marchand. “He has been scoring big goals for us, and tonight he made a hell of an effort by himself.”
Teammate Anton Lundell was in awe in helping set up Marchand’s opening goal by winning the faceoff.
“That’s just him. He just has that passion, which you saw today,” Lundell said. “He decided he wanted to go there and be the difference maker, and he did that. Unbelievable player, and we’re all pretty amazed by him.”
The Panthers maintained their road dominance by improving to 10-3 away from Florida to match the 2019 St. Louis Blues’ record for most road wins in one postseason. Sam Bennett scored his team-leading 15th goal — and 13th on the road — of the playoffs, while Bobrovsky made 19 saves as the Panthers essentially suffocated the high-scoring Oilers.
The win came two days after Florida blew a 3-0 lead in a . And it puts the Panthers in position to join Tampa Bay (2020 and ’21) as the only two teams to repeat as champions in the 2000s.
Marchand is making his fourth Cup final appearance after Boston lost to St. Louis in 2019 and Chicago in 2013.
“I’m not there yet,” he said, when asked of the prospect of winning a second title. “It’s about process. That’s all we’re going to worry about, process, structure. So we’ll look at a few things and get prepared.”
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