Dave Hyde: Marchand’s OT goal delivers win, pulls Panthers back into series

SUNRISE — At the end of a long shift, at the end of a long Friday night, a game in search of a hero and a Florida Panthers season in need of one final, fortuitous bounce converged on the most likely player of them all.

Brad Marchand is the oldest player in this series, too. But this is why the Panthers traded with Boston to get Brad Marchand.

This moment. This shot. This last, long shift where the Panthers applied their trademark pressure on offense and kept applying it to tire Toronto’s defense, and Marchand let fly a shot from the slot whose journey checked the final box of what you need to win in playoff hockey.

You need a hot goalie. Sergei Bobrovsky was hot enough Friday, stopping breakaways by William Nylander and Matthew Knies in overtime.

You need winning special teams. The Panthers need some work there, especially staying out of the penalty box.

You don’t just need stars to play like stars, same as in any sport, but need an unlikely player to have a moment. The Panthers’ Jonah Gadjovich tipped in a shot in the first playoff game of his career to put the Panthers up 4-3.

Finally, to win in the playoffs, you need a bounce, a ricochet, something good fortune that’s such a regular feature of winning hockey it comes with a name: puck luck.

Marchand’s shot hit Toronto defenseman Morgan Rielly’s arm and deflected into the goal for the Panthers’ 5-4 win. It meant the Panthers pulled themselves back into the series, down 2-1, rather than standing at the edge of summer on Sunday night in Game 4.

“It was a bounce,’’ Toronto coach Craig Berube said. “That’s what happens in overtimes a lot.”

It happened to Rielly all Game 3. Aleksander Barkov’s shot tipped off his stick to bring the Panthers back from two quick Toronto goals. Then, with Toronto trailing 4-3 in the third period, Rielly’s bad-angle shot went off Bobrovsky’s blocker into defenseman Seth Jones’ knee and then into the goal to make send it to overtime.

Now it was Marchand’s turn in the way it seems to becoming regularly these playoffs.

“He brings so much life to our team, he’s so energetic,’’ Carter Verhaeghe said “And you see what he does on the ice. He’s been around so long…”

“Uh, yeah,’’ interrupted Marchand, 36, sitting beside him.

“Not that long,’’ Verhaeghe said. “He scores big goals at big moments …”

Marchand leaned over and whispered to him.

“Good looking, too,’’ Verhaeghe said.

There was some side-by-side Panthers heroics as they talked. Marchand had his first overtime goal-winner in the playoffs as a Panther, giving him four for his career. Only six players have more. Verhaeghe is one of those six.

“It was a blur,’’ Marchand said of the goal. “Obviously, it happens very quick. You’re exhausted at that point in the game. It’s one second of the game. It could be anybody. What creates it are the guys doing the job leading to the moment, the details that go up to making that play happen.”

That long, offensive shift by the Panther wore down Toronto.

“The line before us did a great job keeping the play in there,’’ Marchand said. “Then Iron Lungs over here (pointing to Verhaeghe) stayed out when we were in the midst of it and sustained that momentum. We had a couple chances — I think (Verhaeaghe) had a big chance.”

Toronto remains in control of the series, and the Leafs are showing why they’re a tough team. But the ice began to tilt the Panthers’ way for the first time this series. They rebounded from two-goal deficits of 2-0 and 3-1. Maurice said the second period was the first time the Panthers played to their full identity in the three games.

“It just means we’ll have a better day (Saturday),’’ Maurice said.

Game 4 is Sunday. That will tell if the Panthers can pull this series even, if they found the gear that helped make them champions last year. Already in the moments after his winning goal, the glow was fading and the oldest man on the ice knew what it meant.

“It’s all about doing it the next game,’’ Marchand said.

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Florida Panthers fans Michelle Wells, left and Bth Bloom of Royal Palm Beach tailgate befor game three of the Stanley Cup playoffs second round , Friday, May 9, 2025 at the Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise.(Joe Cavaretta/South Florida Sun Sentinel)

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