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Brad Marchand has fit in perfectly with the Florida Panthers since being acquired from the Boston Bruins at the NHL Trade Deadline — but it wasn't so long ago that he was one of their most bitter rivals.
The Panthers spoiled one of the best regular seasons in NHL history in 2022-23, beating Marchand and the 65-win, 135-point Bruins in a historic seven-game upset. Florida then beat Boston in the second round of the postseason last year en route to the franchise's inaugural Stanley Cup championship.
One of the top storylines of that series was Sam Bennett taking Marchand out for two games with a questionable punch to the face, which Marchand could only joke about earlier this week.
“He's got a good right hook,” Marchand told The Athletic's Michael Russo, which earned a chorus of laughter around the Panthers dressing room.
Army, Ace and Biz went back to the tape on the shot Sam Bennett gave to Brad Marchand in Game 3 and they got some thoughts 👀 @armdog @ansoncarterla @biznasty2point0 pic.twitter.com/kqJRr2px5V
— NHLonTNT (@NHL_On_TNT) May 12, 2024
Marchand and Bennett look like they've let bygones be bygones, winning a 4 Nations Face-Off championship together back in February and playing on the same line in the process.
The 37-year-old said he doesn't hold the controversial play against Bennett; that's part of playoff hockey he knows well.
“It’s all understanding that we’re competing at the highest level and sometimes things go a little bit too far or get physical, but it’s not an indication of who you are as a person off the ice,” Marchand said. “I think that’s just kind of the hockey culture. I can’t speak for other leagues — I haven’t really played any of the sports — but in our culture, hockey-wise, you could get in a fight with a guy and meet up afterward and laugh about everything.
“It’s just how it is. You’re doing a job when you’re on the ice, and that’s all it is. I mean, I didn’t hold a grudge. Again, I know how this game is played. I play a similar way. And it’s something that we joke about. I can laugh it off. I’ve been in positions where I’ve had calls like that, or I’ve done things like that to guys that I’ve ended up being teammates with, so … it’s not a personal thing. Things happen on the ice and you move past it.”
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Bennett told Russo he “truly loves Marchy…right from the moment I met him.” So it does look like the two effective forwards have put the beef in the past as they eye a Stanley Cup ring together this spring.
Panthers' Brad Marchand looking for 2nd Stanley Cup ring
If you can't beat them, join them, which is exactly what Marchand has done. He told the Bruins' front office that Florida was one of his preferred landing spots after the two sides couldn't agree to a contract extension earlier this season.
And he's fit like a glove in Sunrise, helping to form one of the best third lines in the playoffs alongside Anton Lundell and Eetu Luostarinen. He's managed 13 points in 15 postseason tilts, and scored a couple of big goals this spring.
“You watch him play and you have so much respect for the compete, so much respect for the beating that he takes and the beating that he gives out,” Panthers general manager Bill Zito said, per Russo. “And his hands, his skill. But until getting to know him, I could not have appreciated his intelligence, just as a person, as a human, independent of hockey, and his grace.”
The past is the past, but this present group of Panthers looks as potent as it's ever been. Marchand has a Stanley Cup under his belt, won in his rookie season back in 2011. And after a pair of Finals losses in 2013 and 2019, the Nova Scotia native is looking well-positioned to add to his trophy collection in 2025.
