In ‘a blur,’ Brad Marchand has his latest playoff moment and Panthers keep hopes alive
Brad Marchand has been in this moment a few times before. It’s still tough for him to process what is happening in the moment.
“It’s a blur, honestly,” Marchand said. “It all happens very quick. You’re exhausted at that point in the game. It’s one second of a game.”
That second, at that moment, is pivotal, game-changing.
Overtime in the playoffs. One shot, one moment, that can make all the difference.
Marchand had that moment on Friday — and the Florida Panthers have life because of it.
His game-winning goal with 4:33 left in overtime from just beyond the left circle — a shot that deflected off Morgan Rielly and fluttered into the net — sealed the Panthers’ 5-4 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs in Game 3 of their second-round Stanley Cup playoffs series at Amerant Bank Arena
The Panthers trail the best-of-7 series 2-1, with Game 4 at 7:30 p.m. Sunday in Sunrise.
But that’s a far better situation than the alternative, which would have had the Panthers on the brink of elimination if they had squandered another opportunity late against Toronto.
“It obviously felt good for the group,” Marchand said. “We had a good game. We had a better second half of the game. Obviously, we didn’t start the way that we would have liked, but I love their resiliency. ... We just competed the way that we know that we can.”
For Marchand, it was his 14th career game-winning playoff goal — the most among active players and tied for 15th overall in NHL history. He is one of just five active players with at least four career postseason overtime goals, joining teammate Carter Verhaeghe (five), Patrick Kane (five), Corey Perry (five) and Nicklas Backstrom (four).
Marchand, who turns 37 on Sunday, became the oldest player in Panthers playoff history with an overtime goal, besting the previous mark set by Mike Hough (33 years, 96 days in Game 5 of 1996 conference semifinals against the Philadelphia Flyers).
“He brings so much life to our team, and he’s so energetic,” Verhaeghe said. “Obviously, you see what he does on the ice. He’s such a great player. ... He’s a player performer, and he scores big goals at big moments. He’s done it all.”
He wants to keep doing it as well. That’s why he was willing to be traded to the Panthers two months ago after spending the entirety of his 16-season NHL career to that point with the Boston Bruins, where he won a Stanley Cup in 2011 and reached the postseason 12 times.
“That’s what you want,” Marchand said during his introductory press conference on March 10. “I mean, ultimately, we chase the Stanley Cup. You want a chance at playing for that every single year. To be able to be part of a team that has that opportunity again this year, I’m very grateful for that. You never know how long you have in this league. You never know when your last day is going to be. You want to make the most of it.”
To have that chance, Florida needed production from just about everyone on Friday.
Florida fell behind 2-0 after a sloppy first six minutes and was down 3-1 within the first three minutes of the second period before rattling off three goals from Sam Reinhart, Verhaeghe and Jonah Gadjovich in a span of about 11 minutes to turn that 3-1 deficit into a 4-3 lead.
And the three goals included a little bit of everything.
Reinhart’s goal came following video review was needed to determine if the puck had fully crossed the goal line after Toronto defenseman Brandon Carlo appeared to make a stop. Florida down 3-2 with 15:47 left in the second period.
Verhaeghe then tied the game 64 seconds later when he popped a shot into a nearly wide-open net after Sam Bennett drew goaltender Joseph Woll out of position on a two-on-one rush. 3-3 with 14:43 left in the middle frame.
And then Gadjovich, playing in his first game of the postseason after coach Paul Maurice changed his entire fourth line, gave Florida its first lead of the game with 4:53 left in the frame after deflecting in a Tomas Nosek shot from the high slot.
It helped spark a Panthers team that looked sluggish in the series opener on Monday and failed to sustain momentum in Game 2 on Wednesday to put them in an early hole in the series.
“The second period,” Maurice said, “was the first block of time this series that we looked to our identity.”
It carried over for a good chunk of the third ... until Toronto tied it on a fluky goal. With 9:04 left in regulation, a Rielly shot that was initially saved by Sergei Bobrovsky bounced off Florida defenseman Seth Jones’ right knee and into the net to level the game at 4-4. It was the second Toronto goal that bounced in off a Panthers defensemen, with John Tavares’ power-play goal in the second period — his second tally of the game — going into the net off Florida’s Gustav Forsling.
“God, he’s had some bad luck around his own net, right?” Maurice said. “We’ve had pucks bouncing all over the place, off defensemen. ... But it doesn’t faze him, it doesn’t. His emotional level stays intense, but always in control and composed.”
That was evident in overtime, when he stopped all eight shots he faced — including breakaways by William Nylander (who has three goals and six points this series) and Matthew Knies (who opened scoring 23 seconds into regulation) — to keep the Panthers alive until Marchand ended it.
“We trust Bob,” Verhaeghe said. “He’s been unbelievable. Sometimes there’s some puck luck or whatever, but it’s on us. We’ve been giving up a lot of stuff and he’s been back there, shutting the door. We trust him, he’s a brick wall back there, and we love him.”
For a night, the Panthers have a chance to celebrate.
But it will be short lived.
Game 4, a chance to even the series, is on Sunday.
“It’s all about doing it again the next game,” Marchand said. “They’re going to come out hard there. You saw the way that they prepared for the game tonight. They have the killer instinct right now, so we have to do a better job preparing to start the game and then carry through.”
This story was originally published May 9, 2025 at 10:36 PM.
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