A moment that many Boston Bruins fans could never imagine is about to become a reality.
Former captain Brad Marchand will skate at TD Garden for the first time as an NHL opponent when the Florida Panthers visit their Atlantic Division rival on Tuesday night. Both teams are 3-4-0, having lost four straight since beginning the season on three-game win streaks.
A two-time Stanley Cup champion, Marchand was traded to Florida on March 7. He did not play due to injury when the Panthers visited the Bruins four days later, but his eventual return became a foregone conclusion once he inked a six-year contract in free agency this summer.
“It’s going to be weird,” Marchand said via NHL.com. “I think there’s going to be a lot of different emotions, even playing in the 4 Nations for Canada was different. There’s a mix of emotions being on the other side of it. There’s a lot that goes with the situation I’m in now.”
Though his wallet is a bit thinner after receiving a $5,000 unsportsmanlike conduct fine following a Saturday incident with Buffalo Sabres captain Rasmus Dahlin, Marchand hopes to spark his new team in the place where he did the same for 16 years as a Bruin. That’s because Florida is coming off a 3-0 loss in Buffalo and has scored just four goals during its four-game skid.
Having Matthew Tkachuk, Aleksander Barkov, Tomas Nosek and Dmitry Kulikov on injured reserve has not helped, but the cupboard is not bare.
“We’re missing the big guys, but on the other hand, other guys have the opportunity to step up and make their way in the team and in the league,” said Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky. “The structure is there. We have great guys. It’s all in our hands.”
Two days without a game provided a perfect reset.
“There’s no real point in thinking you’d be better with those guys because this is the team that we have,” said Panthers coach Paul Maurice. “We have to find a way to get a little tighter in all areas and be a little heavier on the net.”
The Bruins were winless on a recent road trip through Vegas, Colorado and Utah — capped by a 3-2 loss to the Mammoth on Sunday.
“This was a tough trip. We didn’t play our game,” said Boston defenseman Charlie McAvoy. “We did in pockets, but we weren’t able to get the results. It’s still very early. … I don’t think we need to be discouraged just yet.”
While Jeremy Swayman and Joonas Korpisalo were solid in net in Boston’s recent defeats, offensive struggles (three goals in the last two games) and plentiful penalties (16 times short-handed on the road trip) have contributed to the downfall since a strong start.
Additionally, after recording more than 30 shots in three of their first four games, the Bruins have not hit that mark since. Saturday’s 4-1 loss to the Avalanche saw them land just 14.
If one thing has been clear early in new coach Marco Sturm’s Boston tenure, he will not be afraid to tinker with his lineup.
“There’s going to be a lot of other guys (scratched), too. I just want us to be fresh every time,” Sturm said. “We need everyone on board, we really do.”
Sturm played a heavy-lifting fourth line, including Johnny Beecher in his season debut, over David Pastrnak and Pavel Zacha for some of Saturday’s third period.
The next night, Marat Khusnutdinov played in place of Casey Mittelstadt and assisted on Pastrnak’s second goal, while defenseman Hampus Lindholm did not play in the second half of the back-to-back following his return from a lower-body injury.
Sturm liked what he saw.
“I thought our guys did really well (on Sunday),” he said. “They gave everything they had from the first to the last minute. That’s exactly what we wanted.”
–Field Level Media
