2024-25 Playoff Focus: Brad Marchand (GM5 vs. EDM)
Man on a mission
Game 4 was a night to forget for the Panthers. Following a blistering 3-0 start, they rested on their laurels and watched as the Oilers mounted a tidal wave of momentum before ultimately snatching victory from the jaws of defeat.
On Saturday, Florida picked up right where it left off:
Connor McDavid’s first three shifts produced:
A partial breakaway.
A 2-on-1 rush.
A post off a net scramble.
That’s…not ideal. Edmonton looked poised to overwhelm a gassed Panthers group and seize control of this Stanley Cup Final swing game.
Then a newcomer put his foot down to correct his club’s course. Rather than merely pushing back, Brad Marchand took the wind out of the Oilers’ sails with a scintillating first-period performance. His puck protection was vital to Florida’s survival early on (FLA 63):
Now in the twilight of his career, he’s nowhere near the most explosive winger around (59th percentile in top speed). He still possesses great puck pace, though. He’s lightning-quick at the point of attack. Thanks to his urgency, deception and puck placement (when to let it ride, when to cut against the grain, when to exploit the triangle, etc.), the slippery 5’9” veteran excels at playing off his defender’s leverage in small spaces.
Extending his team’s OZ touches allowed it to gain a foothold in Game 5. By the end of the opening frame, the Panthers owned 68.9 percent of the expected goals and their forecheck had the Oilers stuck in a vice grip. They’d found their rhythm.
However, Marchand’s east-west wiggle wasn’t limited to the cycle. Once Florida found its bearings, his evasiveness powered a superb transition effort:
Classic “underhandling” here. With F2 (Vasily Podkolzin, EDM 92) and F3 (Leon Draisaitl, EDM 29) fencing off middle ice and Mattias Ekholm’s (EDM 14) toes pointed inside, Marchand decides to attack the outside lane, banking the puck up the wall and skating into it for a bid from the left circle.
Anticipating a DZ recovery by Eetu Luostarinen (FLA 27), he slides over to present an outlet and notices that Trent Frederic (EDM 21) is committed to a body check. Head fake sells outside —> slip pass to Anton Lundell (FLA 15) while skipping inside —> high-slot wrister.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (EDM 93) wants to funnel him into Darnell Nurse (EDM 25), so Marchand uses Luostarinen’s route as a pick and switches sides. From there, it’s a solo shoot-and-retrieve sequence. He darts inside Troy Stecher’s (EDM 51) frame to scoop up the rebound and goes low and wide to shield the puck below the goal line. Decent one-timer attempt for Evan Rodrigues (FLA 17) from an innocuous DZ touch.
By combining all of these traits (puck pace, change of direction, puck protection, smarts) with his killer instinct, he’d eventually deliver two of the three goals that proved insurmountable on Saturday night.
The opener arrived midway through the first period:
Notice the subtle body adjustment prior to the NZ faceoff. He’s raring to sprint downhill ASAP. He pairs that mentality with the get-off of a seasoned edge-rusher, instantly beating Podkolzin off the “snap” before sneaking past Corey Perry (EDM 90) to secure possession.
Ekholm is the last man back, and the moment he sacrifices inside-out stick position to challenge the puck, Marchand rips inside, dips his left shoulder and free arm to deny any exposure and whistles it in high-glove off the pipe.
His second of the night—and the eventual GWG—begins with DZ urgency:
Sensing an opportunity to strip Jake Walman (EDM 96) at the point, he turns on the jets and forces a D-to-D flub. Luostarinen will get there ahead of Evan Bouchard (EDM 2), so Marchand leaks out and tries his luck 1-on-1 vs. Walman.
Yet again, the Rat King clocks the perfect time to spring his trap, waiting until Walman is beyond hip to hip with him to dance inside. There’s more. On the downward motion of his windmill deke, he traps Walman’s stick to retain dibs on the puck and muscle it through Calvin Pickard (EDM 30) in tight.
37-year-olds have no business pulling off these solo missions, but Marchand has learned to conserve his energy in order to launch blitzes when the stars align. Hell, he posted an average shift length of just 34 seconds last night. After steadying the troops—and with Lundell and Luostarinen on two-way patrol—it felt like he was offered the leeway to search strictly for the kill shot.
And he supplied it. Special performance.
On the night, he registered 2 goals, an 89.1 xGF% and the Panthers outscored the Oilers 2-0 during his 5-on-5 shifts. He now has 6 goals in the SCF.
Here are the full highlights:
Man on a mission, absolutely. Love him or hate him, give him his due.
This will turn out to be a classic 'trade that benefits both teams.' No matter whether FLA wins the next game or loses the next two, there's no question that Marchand has done exactly what FLA wanted from him — veteran leadership, showing the way in the big games and playing a key role in the Panthers going deep in the playoffs. And BOS gets a better draft pick because of it.