Marchand gets ‘rude awakening’ in Panthers return. He also gives Florida a ‘boost’

Florida Panthers admin October 5, 2026 0 Comments

Marchand gets ‘rude awakening’ in Panthers return. He also gives Florida a ‘boost’

By all accounts from the Florida Panthers, Brad Marchand wasn’t supposed to be back on the ice in a game setting this quickly. Since the start of training camp, coach Paul Maurice said the team was going to have Marchand use the entire month of October after the veteran forward underwent surgery in August to deal with a lingering lower-body injury.

Oh, how quickly things change.

And oh, how quickly circumstances necessitate those changes.

Marchand returned to game action on Sunday, less than two months since his surgery and more than three weeks earlier than expected, in Florida’s first game since the team placed captain and top-line center Aleksander Barkov on long-term injured reserve with a left leg injury. Marchand was on the ice for 13:10 in his return, his first game since March 6, and scored Florida’s game-tying goal with 1:50 left to play in an eventual 3-2 overtime loss to the Anaheim Ducks.

“It was sort of a rude awakening being out there,’’ Marchand told reporters in Anaheim after the game. “I only had a few morning skates, practices with the guys. The speed of the game and the intensity certainly ramped up a ton. But it was great to be back out there. It’s going to take some time to get the timing of everything back and conditioning back, but it was incredible being back out there and being part of the team.”

That said, Marchand still looked pretty good out there.

He had three shots on goal, five individual shot attempts and four scoring chances — the latter tied for second-most on the Panthers (1-0-2) behind Sam Bennett.

“He’s a huge part of our team,” center Anton Lundell said. “He’s such a good guy on and off the ice. He’s a great player and to get that kind of boost was awesome. Happy to see him back on the ice. It’s great.”

The 38-year-old winger, who put up 54 points in 52 games last season before injuries shut him down for good, played right wing on a line with Brady Tkachuk and Sam Reinhart, with Reinhart shifting from wing to center.

In about nine minutes of time together at 5-on-5, that line held a 12-2 edge in shot attempts over the Ducks, including a 4-0 advantage in shots on goal, 5-2 in scoring chances and 2-0 high-danger chances.

“Six months since I played a game. Only this game for a month now, so I kind of bring them down a little bit just with my timing and my speed and all that,” Marchand said. “We’re working through that together, but when I get back there to speed, I think we have great potential to be a really good line.”

Marchand also briefly saw time on Florida’s second power-play unit with forwards Lundell, Carter Verhaeghe and Eetu Luostarinen plus Uvis Balinskis.

His goal came with what was essentially that power-play unit on the ice with time running out. Florida pulled goaltender Jacob Markstrom for an extra attacker with about two minutes left to play and the Panthers trailing by a goal. Lars Eller, the sixth skater, fired a shot from the point that Anaheim goaltender Lukas Dostal saved. The rebound went to Marchand, who quickly fired a wrist shot from in from of the net to even the game at 2-2.

Anaheim’s Mikael Granlund scored the game winner 4:14 into overtime on the power play — all three of the Ducks’ goals came on the man advantage — to move the Ducks to 2-0-0, but Marchand’s late effort allowed Florida to pick up points for a third consecutive game to start the season.

“He’s a really, really effective player, and he’s creative,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “He creates from the chaos that he causes. He can make those tight plays in traffic. Some offensive production, for sure, but it’s the energy [he gives] the whole group. We’re so pleased to have him back.”

The Panthers close their season-opening four-game road trip on Tuesday at the Los Angeles Kings (10 p.m., ESPN). Florida’s home opener at Amerant Bank Arena against the Minnesota Wild is at 6 p.m. Saturday.

This story was originally published October 5, 2026 at 11:15 AM with the headline “Marchand gets ‘rude awakening’ in Panthers return. He also gives Florida a ‘boost’.”