‘It’s been fun to watch’: How Brad Marchand’s addition sparked Panthers’ third line

FORT LAUDERDALE — Florida added veteran Brad Marchand at the league trade deadline in March, and in his first postseason with the Panthers, he has helped make the team’s third line Florida’s top unit.

“It’s been fun to watch,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “They’ve been good (since) the minute they got together.”

The Panthers’ third-line forwards were their top three point-scorers in the playoffs, heading into Game 3 of their second-round series against Toronto. Getting more offensive production from Marchand, center Anton Lundell and winger Eetu Luostarinen has paid dividends. All three were among the team’s best in plus-minus.

“What we had hoped is that, especially with Brad’s style, that we get these two younger players — especially Anton — thinking about the game a different way than just the solid, defensive shutdown game,” Maurice said. “Anton scored 18, I believe, as a rookie, so we think it’s there. But Brad has also played most of his career with (Patrice) Bergeron … They would play against the other team’s best, so he’s not cheating the game. He’s literally playing the game the right way, so it’s the perfect compliment for those two young men.

“They’ve killed penalties before with us. They have defensive backgrounds, but we’re always kind of wondering how much offense do they have? Is there more there? This guy’s the perfect complement. … These two guys have just flourished with that.”

Marchand, a former foe with the Bruins, has quickly made an impression on his teammates. Luostarinen, who entered Game 3 with a team-leading nine playoff points, said Marchand has added experience and skill to the unit.

“He’s a playoff guy, for sure,” defenseman Gustav Forsling said. “He’s flying around out there and making big plays at big times and brings a lot of energy to the team and confidence. So we’re very happy to have him.”

Said captain Aleksander Barkov: “Those guys, when you play against them, you hate them for the reasons: They get under your skin, and they try to do everything they can to do that, and then at the same time, they’re unbelievable players. So now that he is on our side, it’s just, I don’t want to say like relief, but it’s really fun to watch. It’s really fun to watch him work so hard. He works really hard on and off the ice. That’s one part that I’m really excited to see about him and learning from him, how hard he works, how hard he prepares for every single practice, every single game. And now I really see why he’s been such an elite player for a long time. He does everything he can to be the best version of himself every single day, and he’s done really good job here.”

While the third line has carried the team, Maurice said he is not worried about the top two lines’ play.

“I’m really not particularly concerned about our offense,” Maurice said. “Sam Bennett, going into this series, was our leading goal-scorer. We went on the road and scored four and scored three. We would expect to win both those games on those numbers, based on the way we play the game. Offense is not where our focus needs to be.”