Panthers’ Bennett, Marchand have put aside their differences. Becoming teammates helps
A picture posted on the Florida Panthers’ team social media accounts Tuesday morning told the story.
Sam Bennett and Brad Marchand on the ice together at Boston’s TD Garden. In the same jersey. Smiling.
Ten months ago, this moment would have seemed almost unfathomable. There’s history between the two, primarily fueled by a controversial hit by Bennett on Marchand in Game 3 of the Panthers’ second-round matchup with the Boston Bruins in the Stanley Cup playoffs. In the opening minutes of that game, Bennett collided on the boards with Marchand in the neutral zone at the benches. As Bennett braced himself for a hit from Marchand, he appeared to swing a right hook at the Bruins captain, who ultimately left that game after two periods and did not play in Games 4 or 5 of the best-of-7 series, which Florida won in six games on its way to its first ever Stanley Cup.
Call it a collision (as the Panthers did at the time) or a cheap shot (as the Bruins did), but the bad blood was there.
Now, it’s all water under the bridge.
Becoming teammates does that.
The Panthers traded for Marchand on Friday, acquiring the Bruins’ captain for a conditional 2027 second-round draft pick. Now that Bennett and Marchand have a common goal of trying to help the Panthers repeat, any differences they might have still had are put to the side.
Although Marchand doesn’t mind saying a few chirps here and there.
“Yeah, he’s still a scumbag,” Marchand said with a wry smile and a laugh Monday during his introductory press conference before adding “I’m really looking forward to — well, I’m sure my jaw is really looking forward to playing with him.”
Bennett and Marchand are cut from the same cloth. Both are physical, get-under-your-skin players that players love to have on their team and hate to go up against. Matthew Tkachuk is in that same boat, too.
So the two understand how things can get heated in the moment and are moving on from the past.
“We’re all competitors,” Bennett said. “I think you never take anything personally. You can be rivals as much as you want on the ice when you’re playing against each other, but as soon as you’re on the same team and we’re in the same jersey, everything’s forgotten about the past. You’re automatically teammates and good friends.”
This is the second time this season the two are teammates. Bennett and Marchand played together during the 4 Nations Face-Off for Team Canada, which won the tournament. In fact, they played on the same line together once Bennett drew into the lineup starting with Canada’s second game.
Once they shared a dressing room together, Marchand said they immediately hit it off. The hope is that the chemistry will translate now with the Panthers — and the past says in the past.
“Benny is great,” Marchand said. “I really had a great time getting to know him at 4 Nations. We get along really, really well. I wasn’t surprised that we would get along. As much as you don’t want things like that to happen to you, I’ve been on the other side of that, and I know that things like that happen because you’re competing and you’re just playing the game hard and play the right way — and he does. I loved being his teammate and playing with him at the 4 Nations. I am very excited to be here and be his teammate again and try to go on a really good run. He’s one of those guys you absolutely want to play with and not against.”
Marchand skates, bids farewell to Boston
Marchand, who hasn’t played since sustaining an upper-body injury on March 1, was on the ice for the Panthers’ morning skate ahead of their eventual 3-2 loss on Tuesday night against the Bruins in Boston, a game in which Florida blew a two-goal lead by giving up three goals in the third period.
Florida coach Paul Maurice said the Panthers are hopeful that Marchand, who is listed as week-to-week with the injury, will be in the lineup before the end of the regular season. He called Marchand getting on the ice “progress,” but doesn’t change the initial status of his rehab.
Marchand on Monday said he was “going to shoot to get back” as soon as possible.
“It’s always been something that I’ve taken a lot of pride in is trying to really limit the amount of games that I miss and trying to push through whatever I can to play,” Marchand said. “That won’t change here.”
Marchand also had the opportunity on Tuesday to formally bid farewell to Boston. The Bruins were in Tampa when Marchand was traded to the Panthers, so he didn’t have the chance to say goodbye to his former teammates before heading to Florida.
“It’ll be nice to be able to see guys and kind of say goodbye,” Marchand said Monday. “Great to see the family in and get a bunch of my stuff. It’s great to go home. It’ll be very weird to be there on the opposing team, so I guess it’s nice, but it’ll be it’ll be sad a bit too.”
This story was originally published March 11, 2025 at 2:00 PM.
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