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Rangers' most memorable regular-season games from 2000-25, including Mika Zibanejad's 5-goal night
The New York Rangers played 2016 regular-season games from 2000-01 through 2024-25. The first quarter of the 21st century included one trip to the Stanley Cup Final (2014), two Presidents' Trophy-winning seasons (2014-15 and 2023-24), three division titles (2011-12, 2014-15 and 2023-24) and 15 trips to the Stanley Cup Playoffs (including the 2020 Qualifiers). The Rangers had some of the most memorable individual performances in their history during the past 25 seasons, including the third five-goal game since they joined the NHL in 1926. There was also a sensational 42-save shutout performance by a Hall of Fame goalie, a record-breaking night by a future Hall of Famer, and memorable comeback wins — including one in the 2024 Stadium Series. Here's a look at five regular-season games from the first quarter of this century that Rangers fans won't forget for a long time. Related: March 5, 2020: Mika Zibanejad caps 5-goal night with OT winner Mika Zibanejad was in the midst of a career year when he had a career night and powered the Rangers to a 6-5 overtime win against the Washington Capitals at Madison Square Garden. Zibanejad joined Don Murdoch and Mark Pavelich as the only players in Rangers history to score five goals in a game. And he became the second NHL player to complete a five-goal game with an overtime goal, joining Sergei Fedorov for the Detroit Red Wings against the Capitals on Dec. 26, 1996. Zibanejad wouldn't have made all that history if it weren't for Washington's Alex Ovechkin. The Rangers center completed a hat trick 12 seconds into the third period, only to have Ovechkin tie the game at 9:22. Zibanejad put the Rangers ahead with his fourth goal of the night at 18:18, but the Caps got even again when Ovechkin scored 59 seconds later. Luckily for the Rangers, overtime is sudden death – so when Zibanejad scored 33 seconds into OT, it was all over. Zibanejad was greeted by an empty locker room when he entered after his big night — until his teammates came out of hiding and quickly mobbed him. 'The puck followed me today, I guess,' Zibanejad said postgame. 'You look at the goals, some unbelievable plays were being made. Today I was at the right spot at the right time.' March 29, 2006: Jaromir Jagr breaks Rangers points record Jean Ratelle's single-season team record for points (109) had stood since 1972 when the NHL resumed play in the fall of 2005 after a lockout wiped out the 2004-05 season. The Rangers hadn't made the Stanley Cup Playoffs since 1996-97. Both droughts ended in 2005-06 thanks to one man: Jaromir Jagr. New Rangers coach Tom Renney put Jagr on the right side of a line with Martin Straka on the left and Michael Nylander in the middle – and the trio clicked right away. Jagr, a five-time NHL scoring champion and then in his age-34 season, produced like he was in his prime again. Jagr led the NHL in scoring for much of the season, and came to the Nassau Coliseum on March 29 looking to make franchise history – after he had already tied Ratelle's record for points and Adam Graves' mark of 52 goals, set in 1993-94. He blew past Ratelle with a four-primary assist night in the Rangers' 5-1 win over their archrivals. No. 68 surpassed Ratelle's mark 7:23 into the game when he assisted on Petr Prucha's goal, then set up all three goals in Straka's natural hat trick. He could have broken Graves' record as well but missed on a third-period breakaway. However, he got goal No. 53 against the Boston Bruins on April 6 and finished with 54. Still, Jagr was elated to set the team mark for points; his season total of 123 is still a Rangers record, as is his goals mark. 'It's a big honor when you consider all the great players who've played for his organization,' he remarked postgame. 'It could have been a lot more points. We had a lot of chances. I had a lot of chances.' Feb. 14, 2012: 'The King' reigns supreme in Boston Henrik Lundqvist is the greatest goaltender in Rangers history, as well as the only 21st-century Blueshirt to earn induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame. His 459 wins are sixth in NHL history and by far the most by a Ranger.s goalie His 64 shutouts are also a team record. But it was his 42nd career shutout, at TD Garden in Boston on Valentine's Day in 2012, that, perhaps, ranks as the best performance of his career. The 3-0 final score doesn't do justice to Lundqvist's play that night. After Ryan Callahan and Ryan McDonagh scored for the Rangers in the first period, the Bruins took over the game everywhere but on the scoreboard. The Bruins outshot the Rangers 14-5 in the second period and 18-3 in the third, when they had 34 shot attempts to five for the Rangers (including a goal by Artem Anisimov early in the period). They finished with 79 shot attempts to 31 for the Rangers. Boston's 32-8 margin in shots over the final 40 minutes and 42-20 for the game meant nothing on a night when 'The King' was flawless. Perhaps his best save came in the second period, when he was flat on his back but had a blast by Bruins defenseman Zdeno Chara from the slot that hit the back of his helmet or between his shoulder blades and deflectt to the corner. He preserved his shutout late in the third period with a spectacular glove save on Tyler Seguin on a power-play breakaway. Related: Nov. 23, 2019: Rangers overcome 4-goal deficit to win in Montreal Facing the Canadiens in Montreal has always been a nightmare for the Rangers. They are 70-210-2 with 40 ties against the Canadiens since entering the NHL 99 years ago and have had multiple double-figure losing and winless streaks. That includes an 0-21-4 streak in the early 1950s. More recently, the Rangers were 2-13-2 at Bell Centre from October 2009 through Dec. 1, 2018. So when the Canadiens jumped to a 4-0 lead against the Blueshirts on the Saturday before Thanksgiving in 2019, the sellout crowd in Montreal was confident the night would end as it usually did when the Rangers were in town – with a Habs win. But this time was different. Down 4-0 less than three minutes into the second period, the Rangers scored three times before the midway mark of the period to cut the deficit to one. Montreal's Artturi Lehkonen and New York's Artemi Panarin exchanged goals 31 seconds apart early in the third period, but Brendan Lemieux tied it with a shorthanded goal at 8:40 before Jacob Trouba scored the game-winner at 12:10. 'It's just an unreal feeling that the guys kept at it, nobody gave up,' said Rangers goalie Alexandar Georgiev, who made 38 saves. 'It's rare that you get to come back from 4-0.' How rare? It was just the fourth time in their history the Rangers won after trailing by four goals, and the first since Dec. 26, 1991, against the Capitals. They haven't done it since. Feb. 18, 2024: Comeback win keeps Rangers perfect outdoors The Rangers will take a 5-0-0 record in outdoor games into the 2026 NHL Winter Classic against the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers at loanDepot Park on Jan. 2. They're the only team that's played more than three outdoor games without losing – and the reason is their refusal to roll over in their most recent one, against the Islanders at MetLife Stadium in the 2024 Stadium Series. Eric Gustavsson gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead 1:28 into the game, but the Islanders scored the next four goals and led 4-1 just 1:03 into the second period. Vincent Trocheck scored twice to make it a one-goal game after two periods, but Alexander Romanov's goal early in the third looked like it had put the game away. But the Isles couldn't stay out of the penalty box down the stretch, and the Rangers took advantage. With Igor Shesterkin off for an extra skater, Chris Kreider's goal made it 5-3 with 4:08 left. Scott Mayfield's tripping penalty with 2:28 remaining gave Rangers coach Peter Laviolette another chance to pull Shesterkin for a 6-on-4 opportunity. The move paid off again when Zibanejad beat Ilya Sorokin for the tying goal with 1:29 to play. The reeling Islanders managed to get the game to overtime, but Panarin took the puck away from Noah Dobson and scored 10 seconds into OT for a stunning 6-5 win. 'I was flooded with emotions,' Panarin said. 'I had to hold back tears. It was so much of a spectacle.' It was the first outdoor win in five tries for Laviolette. 'These games that take place are special, I've been fortunate enough to be a part of them,' he said. 'There have been some good ones but this one has to be up there, near the top of the list.' Related Headlines Jonny Brodzinski preps for Rangers season with summer league hat trick in Da Beauty League Rangers legend 'never really had a chance to say goodbye' until Chris Drury phone call changed everything Rangers top draft pick Malcolm Spence earns praise at World Junior Summer Showcase Understanding no-trade/no-movement protection for Rangers veterans, including Mika Zibanejad
New York Times
01-07-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
It shouldn't have been this way for Mitch Marner and the Maple Leafs
Ten years ago, in a time of major change and uncertainty, the Maple Leafs made a decision that would alter the course of the franchise. It was draft weekend in Florida and the Leafs owned the fourth pick following a disastrous 68-point season. Mike Babcock, the new Leafs coach with the sway of an unprecedented eight-year contract, thought his team should consider using their top pick on a defenceman, like Noah Hanifin or Ivan Provorov. Advertisement Mark Hunter, who shared the interim GM's role at that point with Kyle Dubas, thought otherwise. Tasked with overseeing the draft, Hunter opted for the forward he knew best from his years running the OHL's London Knights: Mitch Marner. 'Him being such a local boy, he will be able to handle the rigours of playing in Toronto,' Hunter said not long after the draft concluded in June 2015. 'Mitch Marner's gonna be a good player for the Toronto Maple Leafs.' Marner wasn't just a good player for the Maple Leafs. He was a great player, one of the greatest in more than 100 years of franchise history. Only Auston Matthews and Doug Gilmour have posted more points per game among Leafs who played in at least 300 games. Three of the top six (and four of the top eight) single-season assist records belong to Marner, including the 75-assist campaign he posted last season. Unlike his long-time co-star Matthews, the top pick in 2016 who was born in California and raised in Arizona, Marner was homegrown, a product of the Greater Toronto Area. He grew up cheering for the Leafs and even wore the No. 93 for Gilmour, his dad's favourite player, when he played for the Knights. (Gilmour played his last game as a Leaf when Marner was only five years old). The marriage of Marner and the Leafs should have been a hockey fairytale. Marner should have gone down as one of the most popular players in franchise history, more adored than Gilmour, Wendel Clark or Johnny Bower. He should have spent his entire career as a Leaf, become the franchise's all-time leading scorer, had a statue built on Legends Row and a banner raised to the rafters of Scotiabank Arena. Of course, it was not to be. The relationship between Marner and the Leafs — between Marner and his hometown — grew so sour that Marner will now spend the next phase of his career playing for the Vegas Golden Knights. His exit, while predictable, is also a sad end to what should have been a happy story. Advertisement It didn't have to be this way. In the beginning, it was great. Marner burst onto the scene in 2016, alongside Matthews and the slick William Nylander, and right away made it clear that he was special with a skill set the franchise, never mind the NHL, hadn't quite seen before — Patrick Kane-like but with awesome defensive ability. The Leafs were young and they were fun in those days. The vibes were immaculate. A close six-game series loss to the Presidents' Trophy-winning Washington Capitals in the spring of 2017 hinted at the upside of the group. Marner was electric a year later in the first round of the 2018 playoffs. The Leafs lost that series to Boston in seven games, but the veteran Bruins came away dazzled by Marner in particular and told him so afterward in the handshake line. 'That's one guy I pretty much singled out just to make sure to let him know he had a good series,' said defenceman Kevan Miller. Then-Bruins coach (and Marner's soon-to-be coach with the Golden Knights) Bruce Cassidy told Marner he had a 'hell of a series.' By his third season, Marner was a flat-out star. Playing alongside Zach Hyman and the newly signed John Tavares, he became the first Leaf in more than 20 years to register 94 points in a season. He was beloved among his teammates for his upbeat, energetic personality. James van Riemsdyk described him once as a 'bubbly person' who was 'almost like your little brother drinking sodas, eating candies.' 'He wants to make jokes about everybody, have everybody make jokes about him, and be very involved,' said long-time teammate Morgan Rielly. Discontent was always simmering just beneath the surface, though. There was Babcock's mistreatment of Marner — the coach famously requesting that the star rank his teammates' work ethic before revealing the results to the teammates in question in a fashion that embarrassed a young Marner. Babcock also briefly placed Marner on the fourth line as a rookie. That apparent infraction still bugged those around Marner years later. The Leafs wouldn't — and didn't — do that that kind of thing to Matthews, they argued. Advertisement How Marner was treated, looked upon and critiqued in comparison to Matthews and Nylander was a near-constant topic of conversation. In the fall of 2018, Marner's father, Paul, offered a window into that line of thinking when he spoke to The Athletic about his son's remarkable rise. 'It drives our family nuts when we hear you guys all talk about who should be the captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Mitch never hardly gets any consideration,' Paul Marner said. 'It's because he's like this happy-go-lucky little kid. But he championed the London Knights to the Memorial Cup with that same happy (personality).' The captaincy eventually went to Tavares and later to Matthews. Even though his son had hit the jackpot, landing with his hometown team in the midst of a new and exciting era, Paul Marner seemed focused on what might have been, pondering a universe where 2015 No. 1 pick Connor McDavid wasn't in the same cohort as his son. 'In any other draft, if Connor's not there, you would've been talking about Mitch as first overall pick.' Paul Marner was an involved hockey dad from the beginning. He filmed every one of his son's games while he barked out both encouragement and expletive-laced instruction from behind the glass. 'You better get f—ing skating Mitch, I swear to God,' Paul said to his son during a CBC feature on hockey parents in 2009. In that same feature, he added, 'A lot of people have this vision that their kid is gonna go somewhere and they get really involved in it. It's like we're living our life through our kids.' The Leafs quietly hoped that, in time, the influence of his dad and those around him would wane as Marner grew older and matured. After Marner's second season, the Brendan Shanahan-led Leafs made a change in the front office, swapping the king of NHL GM experience in Lou Lamoriello for someone with no experience at all in Dubas. Advertisement That inexperience showed when it came to Marner's second NHL contract, which could have been extended soon after Dubas took over in the summer of 2018. Instead, the Leafs — abiding by a Lamoriello principle, oddly enough — took the time they had. Victorious in the Tavares sweepstakes with a seven-year, $77 million deal on July 1, the Leafs shifted their priority to Nylander, who still needed a new contract after Lamoriello failed to get one done in his last year as GM. Marner had posted 69 points as a sophomore for the Leafs and might have agreed to an eight-year, $64 million extension that summer. The math quickly changed as he leapt into stardom. On the same February day in 2019 that Matthews signed a five-year, $58 million contract extension with the Leafs, Marner's agent, Darren Ferris, told The Toronto Star that the team had lowballed his client in extension talks. Marner picked up his playoff heroics in the spring of 2019. He scored twice in a Game 1 win over the Bruins and stepped in front of two shots to preserve a Game 3 victory. That series though, which featured another Nazem Kadri misdeed that resulted in suspension, got away from the Leafs in seven games. Marner's contract — and the noise around it — became the lingering story of the 2019 offseason. Ferris was a feisty, combative negotiator. Talks grew increasingly contentious. The Leafs were eventually prepared to pay Marner about as much as Matthews and Tavares, with a seven- or eight-year contract that included a cap hit of $11 million. Those deals, which would have made Marner one of the highest-paid players in the league, were turned down. Vitriol for Marner, his dad and Ferris bubbled on social media at a time when Marner, only 22, struggled to escape it. The two sides compromised on a six-year contract with a cap hit of $10.9 million after Marner missed the first day of training camp, which was held in Newfoundland that season. Advertisement 'I think Mitch would want more and we would want (the deal to be) less,' said Dubas, speaking next to Marner, at the Double IcePlex in Paradise, Nfld. 'But it's something that we both agree on and move ahead with.' It was an imperfect solution, a relative failure for both sides, and perhaps the turning point of the Marner era. Still new in his role as GM at that point, Dubas conceded that he made mistakes as he learned on the job, including the Marner negotiations. 'I wish everything was done with all of them in one day,' he said. In other words, he regretted not pursuing extensions for Marner, Matthews and Nylander sooner, and landing more team-friendly deals in the process. He would describe it later as the biggest mistake of his Leafs tenure. It was a mistake that took on greater significance when the salary cap remained flat. History might have played out much differently had the team and its GM somehow latched Marner onto something like an eight-year deal with an $8 million cap hit. The Leafs might have kept Hyman after all in the summer of 2021. And maybe, with roughly $3 million extra to spare, they could have deepened their forward group and/or upgraded the back end in a more substantial way. Marner would have been a hero in that world; the star who was underpaid, the star who took less — something Shanahan once insisted would be expected of players in Toronto. Pressure might have been lifted. Maybe the playoff failures would have been a different story. In that alternate reality, Marner would still have time remaining on his contract today. That's what Marner and the people around him missed in trying to chase Matthews and Tavares money. Instead, fairly or not, he came to represent something different, something less appealing, something greedier — even if he was just doing what his co-stars had done before him. Advertisement 'I'm from Toronto,' Marner said after the deal was done. 'I live here and I play here as well, so I mean, there's pressure in that always. You don't think about it. You just go out there and play hockey like you've done your whole life.' The Leafs lost to an inferior Columbus Blue Jackets team the following postseason, after which Dubas blasted any and all critics after Marner struggled to produce offence. 'I don't know where all this started with the criticizing of Mitch Marner,' he said. 'But to me, it's among the most idiotic things that I see done here.' The following spring, when the path to the Stanley Cup Final appeared as frictionless as ever in the pandemic-shortened season, the Leafs built a 3-1 series lead against another team with lesser talent, Montreal, only to completely unravel in seven games. Nylander, who had quickly become underpaid with his $6.9 million cap hit, shined with five goals and eight points in the series. And while Matthews, playing alongside Marner, beat Carey Price only once, he also had scored an astounding 41 goals in 52 games during the regular season, which earned him the first Rocket Richard Trophy by a Leaf and a second-place finish for MVP. Tavares was hurt for all but three minutes of the series. It meant that the brunt of the criticism for the loss fell on Marner, who in the not-so-distant aftermath of the contract drama failed to score and produced only a single point in the final three losses. More than that, Marner appeared tight and tense as the pressure rose on the ice and behind the scenes. The joy usually present in his demeanour disappeared. In conversation with The Athletic that fall, Marner spoke about his efforts to rediscover that joy with counsel from Greg Harden, the famed Tom Brady whisperer who had joined the team as a 'Peak Performance Coach.' Harden believed in controlling the 'controllables,' which, for Marner, was 'trying to be the best player I can be, bring the energy, have a lot of joy.' Advertisement 'Just stay in that moment, stay in that joy, and embrace it,' he said. The result: The finest season (still) of Marner's NHL career, a 35-goal, 97-point (in only 72 games) two-way masterpiece that helped the Leafs to a franchise-record 115 points. His performance, which failed to draw even one vote for MVP, fell in the shadow of his teammate. Matthews set a franchise record with 60 goals and became the first Leaf since 1955 to win the Hart as MVP. The Leafs outplayed the reigning Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round that spring, but still lost in seven games. 'We're getting sick and tired of feeling like this,' Marner said after the sixth consecutive first-round defeat. A poor start to the following season for both Marner and the Leafs put Sheldon Keefe, who replaced Babcock as coach not long after Marner signed his second contract, on the hot seat. The Leafs had dropped three games in a row when Keefe briefly benched Marner following a turnover during an overtime loss in Anaheim. Marner, likely never benched in his life previously, thundered down the tunnel to the dressing room and smashed his stick in frustration. 'We started off a lot worse last year and everyone tried to put shambles in our brains,' he said in a tense post-game media scrum. 'It's not gonna happen with us.' Asked who he meant by everyone, Marner responded, 'Outside noise. It's big in Toronto especially.' Marner could be personable, even charming, in one-on-one media interviews, especially as he got older. But in the big scrums where so much of that work gets done in Toronto, he often came across as stilted and uncomfortable. What he often meant to say came out wrong, which led to his words taking on a life of their own. Those storms would lead to the occasional media blackout, with any and all Marner requests denied for days at a time. Advertisement Things turned around, for both player and team, that season. The Leafs piled up 111 points. Marner recorded 99 points and a league-best 104 takeaways. He became the first Leaf since Gilmour in 1994 to be nominated for the Selke Trophy as the NHL's top defensive forward. This time, another first-round series with Tampa went the Leafs' way. The joy of the first playoff round won since 2004 was quickly replaced by dismay when the team was erased by the Florida Panthers in five games as the stars — Marner included — were shut down. Dubas hinted at finally changing the core as a result in an emotional season-ending news conference. Full no-trade protection wouldn't kick in on Matthews, Marner and Nylander's contracts until July 1. At locker cleanout day, Marner gushed about being a Leaf and left no doubt that he wished to stay. 'You feel very lucky to be able to wear this jersey,' Marner said. 'I'm definitely very lucky and don't take it for granted ever and appreciate it all.' But Marner, with two years remaining on his contract, was the most logical star to trade and might have fetched a significant return. There would be no trade. Dubas was fired, suddenly, by Shanahan in the midst of contract negotiations and the front office, newly run by Brad Treliving, quickly made it clear to a befuddled Toronto market that the Leafs would be running it back. It was a decision that surrendered any and all control over Marner's future to Marner. It would backfire. Marner returned looking unhappy and disconnected in the fall of 2023. He still tossed pucks to excited fans holding signs at every pre-game warmup. His apparent joy for the game, though, seemed to be missing. Before the Leafs played in Chicago in late November, Keefe noted that Marner wasn't 'executing at the level that you'd expect from Mitch,' and hadn't 'found his groove here yet.' Advertisement Following the game, the Leafs coach quickly walked back his comments — 'let's not pile on the negatives here' — just as he had a year earlier when, after critiquing the performance of the team's 'elite' players following a loss to Arizona, Marner appeared noticeably stung. Criticism seemed to irk Marner in a way it didn't with the team's other stars. Again the playoffs came and again he and the Leafs disappointed, once more in seven-game fashion to the Bruins. Afterward, Marner tried to describe how appreciated members of the Leafs felt in Toronto, that they were 'looked upon as kind of gods here, to be honest.' It was another remark, however well-intended, that blew up amid intensifying criticism following another playoff failure. It felt, again, like an inevitability that the Leafs would move on from Marner, or at least seriously explore the possibility. Marner had struggled to make a superstar impact in the playoffs (albeit in a demanding defensive role) and no longer appeared happy playing for his hometown team. It became clear that the team had decided to move forward with their star winger yet again when Marner was spotted having coffee with Craig Berube soon after he was hired as head coach. Whether they seriously wrestled with the possibility of moving on is a matter of perspective. The Leafs talked to rival teams that might have interest in acquiring Marner and might be of interest to Marner himself, who had full say on any trade. They concluded that those teams were either cap-strapped and/or unwilling to deal what the Leafs considered to be fair value in return, opting against confrontation that might have forced a trade. On the first day of what would be his final training camp as a Leaf, Marner said he wouldn't discuss his expiring contract or negotiations on a new one. It turned out he wouldn't discuss it much privately either, spurning the team's attempt to talk extension. Advertisement Fearful that he would leave for nothing but cap space following the season, the front office, after years of general resistance to the idea, tried to trade Marner at the trade deadline for Mikko Rantanen. With a pregnant wife at home and full control over the matter, Marner turned down a move. 'We want Mitch here for a long time,' Treliving said in Utah a day after the stunning news leaked. When asked later about the team's willingness to make such a request, Marner was succinct, telling The Athletic, 'It's a business out there. I know what's going on. I'm just here to play hockey.' Marner reached 100 points for the first time, joining Gilmour, Matthews and Darryl Sittler as the only Leafs to do so. But it felt a little hollow, with all signs pointing to an imminent exit. In the playoffs, the Leafs wormed their way around the Ottawa Senators in the first round and built up a 2-0 series lead against the Panthers only to fritter it away in devastating fashion. Marner again failed to produce when the Leafs needed him most. He didn't record a point in the final three losses, including in a Game 7 blowout. It turned out to be his last game as a Leaf. This was no fairytale. Instead, the story ended with everybody involved unhappy, unfulfilled and likely full of regret. The Leafs saw the signs of discontent and chose to ignore them rather than moving on from Marner when they had the chance. They believed, wrongly in the end, that Marner's talent was too awesome to dispel, and that eventually he and the others would reward their unyielding faith. Marner may yet find happiness and fulfillment in Vegas, but he could have been a legend with the Leafs. Instead, despite regular-season success, the Marner era in Toronto will be remembered for playoff failures. In the near-term, he'll likely be seen as a villain. In the aftermath of this most recent playoff defeat, Marner struck a different tone than he had in the past. He spoke in the past tense. He loved his time here. He loved being here. He just didn't want to stay.
Yahoo
02-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Brad Marchand Addresses Stress Levels Before Oilers-Panthers Rematch
Brad Marchand Addresses Stress Levels Before Oilers-Panthers Rematch originally appeared on Athlon Sports. The Florida Panthers are preparing for their third straight Stanley Cup Final appearance, and this time, they will feature a veteran forward, bringing a very different perspective to the team. Advertisement Brad Marchand, who joined Florida from the Boston Bruins at the trade deadline, is playing in his first finals since 2019 and third overall. Despite the high stakes, the 37-year-old said on Sunday that he feels more relaxed now than he has in years. Marchand spent his entire 16-year career with the Bruins and endured several high-pressure playoff runs that ended in disappointment. This year, Marchand says the atmosphere in Florida and the team's recent success have allowed him to enjoy the experience differently. "I honestly feel less stressed now going into this Final than I did in the first round of the last five playoffs I was in," Marchand told Amalie Benjamin of Advertisement Last spring, Marchand and the Bruins beat the Toronto Maple Leafs in Game 7 of the first round before falling to Florida one round later. Before that, in the 2023 postseason, the Presidents' Trophy-winning Bruins were upset in Round 1 by the Panthers. Florida Panthers center Brad Marchand (63) celebrates after a goal during the 2025 Stanley Cup Navarro-Imagn Images Now, Marchand is skating alongside the group that ousted his team twice. The winger said the shift has helped him approach this moment much more relaxed than in years past. "I'm just so excited for it," Marchand said. "I'm not nervous about it at all. At the end of the day, however it plays out, it's going to play out." Already 37 years old, Marchand brushed off any thoughts about retiring once his current contract ends at the end of the playoffs. Advertisement Marchand, however, acknowledged that this might be his last chance at winning another title. "Statistically, it'll most likely be my last one; hopefully it's not, but that's just how this game works," Marchand said. "I'm just going to enjoy every second of it." Related: Matthew Tkachuk Sends Clear Message About Oilers-Panthers Stanley Cup Final Related: Connor McDavid Sends Clear Warning to Panthers Before Stanley Cup Final This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jun 2, 2025, where it first appeared.
NBC Sports
29-05-2025
- Sport
- NBC Sports
For the 2nd straight year, Hurricanes left to lament falling in huge series hole in NHL playoff exit
RALEIGH, N.C. — For the second straight year, the Carolina Hurricanes failed to win a game in their last postseason series until on the edge of elimination. This time, it ended their season in another Eastern Conference final — the stage proving to be a roadblock in their multiyear Stanley Cup push. The Hurricanes fell 5-3 to the Florida Panthers in Game 5, sending the Panthers back to the sport's final stage for the third straight year while ending Carolina's latest lengthy playoff grind short of the ultimate goal. And it ended in a similar fashion to the previous year: with Carolina losing the first three games of a series, spending multiple games trying to dig out of that massive hole and then losing a two-goal lead at home in the game that ultimately ended their season. 'I think essentially we lost in the first few games,' Carolina captain Jordan Staal said. 'You can't start a series like that and expect a better outcome.' A year ago, it was an 0-3 series deficit to the Presidents' Trophy-winning New York Rangers in the second round. The Hurricanes regrouped to win two elimination games and carried a 3-1 lead into the third period of a Game 6 at home, only to see the Rangers surge back behind Chris Kreider's hat trick in the final 20 minutes in a 5-3 victory. This time, it was an 0-3 series deficit to the the reigning Stanley Cup champion, a tested and deep team unafraid to play and surpass Carolina's aggressive-forechecking approach. And it ended with a matching final score. 'We knew it was going to be a big task to try to beat them,' said Carolina's Sebastian Aho, who had two first-period goals that put the Hurricanes ahead. 'We truly believe we have what it takes, but obviously we fell short yet again.' By the final horn, Carolina's lamentations went back to losing the first two games at home, the second being a 5-0 blowout in which the Panthers shockingly were dominant and the Hurricanes' normally rowdy fans were left to frustratedly chant 'Shoot the puck! Shoot the puck!' 'Those first two games you'd probably want back, but it's too little, too late,' said Seth Jarvis, who had a tying goal midway through the third period before Florida made its go-ahead move on Carter Verhaeghe's score. 'And that's kind of the result of it.' By Game 3, Carolina had seen a 1-1 game entering the third mushroom into a 6-2 loss for their 15th straight loss in a conference final going back to sweeps in 2009, 2019 and the 2023 one against these Panthers. The Hurricanes regrouped to win Game 4 on the road and avert another sweep, but they faced a long climb to accomplish the improbable. Carolina jumped to a 2-0 lead with Aho twice putting Panthers giveaways in the neutral zone into the net behind Sergei Bobrovsky. But the Panthers flurry of three goals on consecutive second-period shots — two coming in a 30-second span — erased that deficit and silenced a roaring crowd giddy by Carolina's start. While the Hurricanes responded with Jarvis' tying goal midway through the third, the dynamic of the game had completely changed after a flurry coach Rod Brind'Amour called 'a backbreaker.' 'You could just feel us — it's just natural, the building, everything, it kind of sucked a little bit of life out of us,' he said. Carolina's five-week playoff push had included five-game series wins against the New Jersey Devils and Washington Capitals, the latter being this year's top seed in the Eastern Conference. Yet the Hurricanes went from going 5-0 at home in those two series to losing all three home games against the Panthers. Carolina has won at least one postseason series in its current run of seven straight playoff appearances, though three have now ended in the Eastern final. 'We've had slow starts in the series, when it gets to the top four teams, they're great teams, and having a slow start is never great,' Staal said. 'Obviously we always believe in the group when we get here and coming up short is never easy, and it doesn't get any easier. We'll just try to get better and try again.'
San Francisco Chronicle
29-05-2025
- Sport
- San Francisco Chronicle
For the 2nd straight year, Hurricanes left to lament falling in huge series hole in NHL playoff exit
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — For the second straight year, the Carolina Hurricanes failed to win a game in their last postseason series until on the edge of elimination. This time, it ended their season in another Eastern Conference final — the stage proving to be a roadblock in their multiyear Stanley Cup push. The Hurricanes fell 5-3 to the Florida Panthers on Wednesday night in Game 5, sending the Panthers back to the sport's final stage for the third straight year while ending Carolina's latest lengthy playoff grind short of the ultimate goal. And it ended in a similar fashion to the previous year: with Carolina losing the first three games of a series, spending multiple games trying to dig out of that massive hole and then losing a two-goal lead at home in the game that ultimately ended their season. 'I think essentially we lost in the first few games,' Carolina captain Jordan Staal said. 'You can't start a series like that and expect a better outcome.' A year ago, it was an 0-3 series deficit to the Presidents' Trophy-winning New York Rangers in the second round. The Hurricanes regrouped to win two elimination games and carried a 3-1 lead into the third period of a Game 6 at home, only to see the Rangers surge back behind Chris Kreider's hat trick in the final 20 minutes in a 5-3 victory. This time, it was an 0-3 series deficit to the the reigning Stanley Cup champion, a tested and deep team unafraid to play and surpass Carolina's aggressive-forechecking approach. And it ended with a matching final score. 'We knew it was going to be a big task to try to beat them,' said Carolina's Sebastian Aho, who had two first-period goals Wednesday that put the Hurricanes ahead. 'We truly believe we have what it takes, but obviously we fell short yet again." By the final horn, Carolina's lamentations went back to losing the first two games at home, the second being a 5-0 blowout in which the Panthers were shockingly dominant and the Hurricanes' normally rowdy fans were left to frustratedly chant 'Shoot the puck! Shoot the puck!' 'Those first two games you'd probably want back, but it's too little, too late,' said Seth Jarvis, who had a tying goal midway through the third period before Florida made its go-ahead move on Carter Verhaeghe's score. 'And that's kind of the result of it.' By Game 3, Carolina had seen a 1-1 game entering the third mushroom into a 6-2 loss for their 15th straight loss in a conference final going back to sweeps in 2009, 2019 and the 2023 one against these Panthers. The Hurricanes regrouped to win Game 4 on the road and avert another sweep, but they faced a long climb to accomplish the improbable. Carolina jumped to a 2-0 lead with Aho twice putting Panthers giveaways in the neutral zone into the net behind Sergei Bobrovsky. But the Panthers flurry of three goals on consecutive second-period shots — two coming in a 30-second span — erased that deficit and silenced a roaring crowd giddy by Carolina's start. While the Hurricanes responded with Seth Jarvis' tying goal midway through the third, the dynamic of the game had completely changed after a flurry coach Rod Brind'Amour called 'a backbreaker.' 'You could just feel us — it's just natural, the building, everything, it kind of sucked a little bit of life out of us,' he said. Carolina's five-week playoff push had included five-game series wins against the New Jersey Devils and Washington Capitals, the latter being this year's top seed in the Eastern Conference. Yet the Hurricanes went from going 5-0 at home in those two series to losing all three home games against the Panthers. Carolina has won at least one postseason series in its current run of seven straight playoff appearances, though three have now ended in the Eastern final. 'We've had slow starts in the series, when it gets to the top four teams, they're great teams, and having a slow start is never great,' Staal said. ___
