Brad Marchand scored his first goal with the Florida Panthers. Watch it here
Brad Marchand scored 422 goals in 1,090 career regular-season games — and another 56 in 157 playoff games — with the Boston Bruins before being traded to the Florida Panthers on March 7.
In Florida’s 4-1 win over the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday, his eighth game with his new team, Marchand found the back of the net for the first time for Florida.
Marchand’s goal came with 3:39 left in the second period and gave Florida a 3-1 lead. He took a pass in the slot from Uvis Balinskis, splitting two Detroit defenders and beat Detroit goalie Cam Talbot with a wrist shot from up close. Gustav Forsling made a great defensive play at center ice to get the puck to Eetu Luostarinen, who started the scoring sequence.
It was met with chants of “Mar-chy! Mar-chy!” from the crowd as he celebrated with his teammates. When the goal was formally announced moments later, the crowd at Amerant Bank Arena broke out into a roar.
“I’m just enjoying this whole journey,” Marchand said. “It’s such a unique experience for myself, and I’ve been part of really good teams that have accomplished big things and some that haven’t. Regardless, what you realize is that these opportunities are very few and far between. You’ve got to enjoy every day in this league, and I’m having a lot of fun right now. The guys are awesome, really starting to build some chemistry with everyone, and just feeling more comfortable every day. It’s fun to be proud of a winning group and to be out there with these guys right here.”
The goal was a long time coming, considering Marchand had his share of chances that didn’t translate prior to Thursday. In his first seven games with Florida, Marchand had 14 shots on goal, 30 total shot attempts, 14 scoring chances and five high-danger chances according to the advanced hockey statistics website Natural Stat Trick. His expected goals for, according to Natural Stat Trick, was 1.57.
Watch the goal here:
This story was originally published April 10, 2025 at 8:38 PM.
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