The seemingly long wait for Boston Bruins captain Brad Marchand is finally over. The left wing scored the 400th goal of his career early in the first period of Boston's road game against the Carolina Hurricanes Thursday night.

Marchand had scored the 399th goal of his career March 9 in a 5-1 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins. He had been unable to cash in on any of his chances since then. However, he had his breakthrough at the 2:12 mark of the first period when he beat Hurricanes goaltender Frederik Andersen on a breakaway after taking a pass from Morgan Geekie.

After Marchand's backhand slot slipped past Andersen, he skated towards the Boston bench and he pantomimed taking a figurative monkey off of his back.

Marchand spoke to the Bruins broadcast team after the second period. “It's a great milestone,” Marchand said. “It's something I never thought I would get to in my career.”

While Marchand had been denied the goal for the better part of a month, it allowed the first-year captain to get within two goals of former Bruins star Rick Middleton, who finished his career with 402 goals. Middleton is the fourth-leading goal scorer in Bruins history.

The Bruins jumped out to a 3-0 first period lead on the Hurricanes. In addition to Marchand's goal, leading scorer David Pastrnak wristed a shot into the top corner past Andersen, at the 7:42 mark. Danton Heinen extended the lead further when he took a sharp pass from Pastrnak and beat Andersen with a high shot to the stick side.

Bruins fighting for Atlantic Division title

Going into Thursday night's NHL action, the Bruins had a four-point lead in the division over the Florida Panthers. Florida had appeared to be in control of the division in mid-March, but they have slumped over the past 10 games, going 2-7-1 in that stretch.

While Florida had stumbled, the Bruins appeared to find their stride. They had won 3 of 4 games during a challenging road trip that included wins over the Panthers, Washington Capitals  and the Nashville Predators.

Marchand is the Bruins second-leading scorer behind Pastrnak. Despite his long goal-scoring drought, he has 28 goals on the season and 65 points.

The 35-year-old Marchand is in his 15th season with the Bruins. H has scored 20 goals or more in 13 of those seasons. He scored a career-best 100 points in the 2018-19 season when he tallied 36 goals and 64 assists. He set a career-high in goals with 39 in 2016-2017.

Marchand is in his first year as the team's captain, as he took over the role following the retirement of Patrice Bergeron last summer.

While Brad Marchand was known for some hijinks on the ice in his earlier years, he has settled down as a responsible leader for the Original 6 team.