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When the Florida Panthers pulled off the jaw-dropping trade for Brad Marchand at the NHL Deadline, it was for moments like this.
Friday night, Marchand gave his Panthers the lead twice: Once in the second period, and once when it really counted.
Marchand scored twice for the Panthers in their 5-4 win over the host Edmonton Oilers in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final forever cementing his place in South Florida sports lore.
The best-of-7 series is now tied at 1 with Game 3 in Sunrise on Monday night.
“Favorite player of all time,’’ Roberto Luongo tweeted moments after Marchand beat Stuart Skinner for the second time.
Luongo, of course, was not Marchand’s biggest fan back in the day.
Marchand got his first goal in his first Stanley Cup Final on a shorthanded chance against Luongo and the Vancouver Canucks on June 6, 2011.
Exactly 14 years later, Marchand did it again.
Luongo enjoyed seeing Marchand this time around.
So did the rest of the Panthers.
“I think our whole bench stood up when he had a breakaway there,’’ said Sam Bennett, who set an NHL record with his 12th road goal of these playoffs to make it 1-0 early.
“It’s just a huge play at a huge time and he’s been incredible for us this whole playoffs. He’s scoring massive goals at massive times. That one was definitely the biggest.”
In that game 14 years ago in Boston, Luongo was on the wrong side of an 8-1 loss to the Bruins; Boston ended up having to rally in that series to win the Stanley Cup in 7.
Friday night, Marchand gave the Panthers a second-period lead in Game 2 and, again, it was a shorthanded one.
With Niko Mikkola in the box for hooking in a 3-3 game, Marchand hopped onto the ice and got a sharp pass from Anton Lundell in the neutral zone.
Marchand charged in unfettered to the net and beat Stuart Skinner five-hole to give the Panthers a 4-3 lead at 12:09 of the second.
It was Marchand’s second goal of this Final, and his sixth of the playoffs with his new team.
Marchand’s third goal of this Final, and his seventh of the playoffs with his new team, looked a lot like the shorty.
Again, he broke loose off a feed from Lundell and barely got a piece of the puck.
He did get enough, however, to get it between Stuart’s skates — again.
“You know, to be honest, I blacked out. I don’t even know,’’ Marchand said when asked by the TNT postgame crew about the shot.
“It’s just obviously a fortuitous bounce, and we’ll take it.’’
Indeed.
“Brad’s an honest man, and that’s why he fits in our room,’’ Paul Maurice said. “He loves the game. He loves the people around him. He’s very open, very gregarious, so he just fits right in. He is completely accepted. An incredibly positive human being. He’s up and down our bench all the time just pumping tires, staying in the fight.
“He is going to be the same way at breakfast tomorrow morning. He’s just going to be jacked, high-fiving everybody at the table.
“Truly, he is a unique human. In the northern parlance, he’s a beauty.’’
Marchand has 10 goals in the Final which leads all active players.
He and Corey Perry were tied at nine apiece after Perry tied the score Friday and forced overtime with 17.8 seconds remaining.
This, however, turned out to be Marchand’s big night.
A night to remember, for sure.
Marchand’s time with the Panthers may turn out to be short — he is a free agent and Florida will be up against the salary cap — but he has carved his name in one of the great performances in South Florida sports history.
He has been on the other side of that, obviously.
“I’ve learned a lot, I have talked a lot about him — how he prepares for games, how he prepares for practices,’’ captain Sasha Barkov told NHL Network following the game.
“He is always on the ice when there’s optional skates. He’s obviously very old, but he still works hard and wants to be better. And it’s fun to see, and it’s contagious. You want to work as hard as him.’’
Paul Maurice on Pete DeBoer Being Fired: ‘He’s Going to Be OK’
MarchLand: Panthers Beat Oilers in 2OT in Game 2, Tie Cup Final
Cup Final Game 2: Panthers at Oilers. How to Watch, Lines, Betting
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