Brad Marchand continued his impressive Stanley Cup Final with the Florida Panthers and may just be making his case for playoff MVP.
Along the way, though, he’s joined some elite company.
With the game-opening goal on Saturday against the Edmonton Oilers in Game 5, Marchand became just the second player in the NHL expansion era (since 1968) to have five or more goals in multiple Stanley Cup Final series, joining Pittsburgh Penguins great Mario Lemieux.
He doubled up in the third period to give his Panthers a commanding 3-0 lead and bring his series total up to six goals.
This is Marchand’s third Cup Final but second with five or more tallies — he scored five goals in seven games against the Vancouver Canucks to help the Boston Bruins to a Stanley Cup victory in 2011.
Marchand ranks seventh in expansion-era NHL history in Cup Final goals, with 13 in 25 games. Montreal Canadiens legend Jacques Lemaire leads with 19 in 40 games.
Lemieux’s two five-goal finals came in 1991 and 1992 during the Penguins’ first two Stanley Cup championships in franchise history.
Marchand hasn’t been the only Panther to make his mark on this series — Sam Bennett reached the five-goal mark in this year’s Cup Final with his first-period tally to double Florida’s lead. Bennett and Marchand become the first pair of teammates to reach the five-goal mark in the Cup Final since Canadiens teammates Yvan Cournoyer and Frank Mahovlich did so in 1973, per Sportsnet Stats.
Marchand, 37, was acquired by the Panthers at the March 7 trade deadline. In 22 playoff games for Florida this year, the Halifax native has 10 goals and 20 points.
