For the Panthers, the Brad Marchand story seems to keep getting better and better

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Such a scene would have been simply unimaginable just a few months ago. Brad Marchand scores an overtime goal to win a playoff game, and Florida Panthers great-turned-executive Roberto Luongo pumps his fists and gives some hugs in celebration.

Well, it happened.

They have history and lots of it, including Marchand scoring four goals against Luongo in the 2011 Stanley Cup Final. Those goals came in Games 3, 4, 6 and 7 of that series — which just happened to be the ones that Boston won in that matchup, denying Luongo and the Vancouver Canucks that season’s title.

But now, Luongo loves him. So, too, does everyone else in Florida, from the fan base to the players and everyone in between, with good reason. Nobody on the Florida roster has more points in these playoffs or a better plus-minus than Marchand, who will celebrate his 37th birthday on Sunday when he and the Panthers play Game 4 of an Eastern Conference semifinal series against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

“He brings so much life to our team,” Florida forward Carter Verhaeghe said. “He’s so energetic and obviously you see what he does on the ice. He’s such a great player and has been around for so long. I mean, yeah, not that long, but he’s a player-performer and he scores big goals at big moments and he’s done it all.”

Verhaeghe said all that while Marchand was seated to his left. When he got done with that answer, Marchand leaned in and whispered one other thing that he wanted Verhaeghe to add. Verhaeghe graciously agreed.

“Good looking, too,” Verhaeghe said.

Marchand — once a Panthers playoff rival — has gone from reviled to revered in Florida in just a few weeks. The shocking trade-deadline move that brought Marchand to the Panthers from the Bruins was a huge story at the time and keeps getting better now. And the OT goal on Friday added to his long history with Toronto, a team that he’s faced in the playoffs on four other occasions and skated away as a series winner every time.

“Coming in, everybody embraced me and welcomed me,” Marchand said. “And I feel like I’ve built some really, really good friendships already in a very short period of time. But also, when you see what the team is doing and what we’re trying to do and what we want to do and the way that we do it, you want to completely buy in and be part of it. And we have fun.”

Among players still in these playoffs, nobody has more postseason points in their careers entering Saturday than Marchand. The OT game winner on Friday was his 146th, tying Alex Ovechkin’s career playoff total. (There are three active players — Sidney Crosby with 201, Evgeni Malkin with 180 and Nikita Kucherov with 171 — all with more playoff points, but their teams aren’t still in this year’s playoffs.)

His experience has been invaluable, even for a team that has plenty of players who were there for Florida’s run to the Stanley Cup a year ago. Panthers forward A.J. Greer — who had been teammates with Marchand in Boston as well — said the former Bruins captain is “an exceptional person, an amazing player, and everyone respects him.”

“He does check a lot of boxes and he brings a lot to this team and we’re so happy to have him,” Greer said. “And I think the Panthers fans are also happy to him. I don’t think anyone predicted that he’s going to score a game winner for us a couple months ago, but it’s been an amazing ride and I’m really happy to have him.”

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