EDMONTON — At 37 years old, Florida Panthers forward Brad Marchand seems to be getting better with age, 14 years after hoisting his first and only Stanley Cup. Marchand even joked about his appearance after Saturday night`s game.
“Man, that guy’s good looking,” Marchand said with a laugh, reflecting on what his 23-year-old self, who won the Cup in his second NHL season with the Boston Bruins in 2011, might say now.
Putting jokes aside, what`s undeniably consistent is Marchand`s knack for scoring, which has placed him in an elite category within Stanley Cup Final history.
The former Bruins captain, who joined Florida at the NHL trade deadline in March, scored two goals, including the eventual game-winner, in a 5-2 victory over Edmonton. This win gives the Panthers a 3-2 advantage in the Stanley Cup Final series, which now heads back to Florida for Game 6 on Tuesday night.
Marchand, who has now netted 10 goals this postseason, with six coming in the Final, shared his perspective: “Like I’ve said plenty of times, trying to enjoy the moment. It’s a pretty special group to be a part of, and I’m having a lot of fun. It’s just how it plays out sometimes. Sometimes you get bounces. Sometimes you don’t.”
However, Marchand`s goals on Saturday night weren`t attributed to luck. Both scores were the result of him putting his head down, physically battling defenders, and driving hard to the net.
He opened the scoring just over nine minutes into the first period by jumping on a loose puck from a center-ice faceoff, pushing past defenseman Mattias Ekholm, and slipping the puck through the legs of goalie Calvin Pickard.
Marchand then extended the lead to 3-0 about five minutes into the third period. He drove down the left wing, got past Jake Walman, and beat Pickard with a backhand shot for the goal that proved to be decisive.
With his performance, he became the 18th player—and the oldest at 37—to score six goals in a single Final series, a feat not seen since Esa Tikkanen of Edmonton in 1988. Additionally, Marchand, who scored five times in Boston`s 2011 Cup-winning series against Vancouver, joins the legendary Mario Lemieux as only the second player in the last 50 years to score five or more goals in multiple Stanley Cup Finals.
