Paul Maurice said it was his call to hold Brad Marchand, who has been battling an injury, out of the third period.
The Florida Panthers have had to deal with quite a few injuries this season.
That’s why fans of the team took a massive, collective gulp when Brad Marchand did not emerge with the rest of his teammates for the third period of Tuesday night’s 4-1 loss in Toronto.
Marchand has been a savior of sorts for the Panthers during this injury plagued season.
Playing without star forwards Sasha Barkov and Matthew Tkachuk, among many others, Marchand has paced the team in goals and points for much of the year.
If not for the consistent contributions from Marchand, and Sam Reinhart, Florida would be in much worse shape than they currently find themselves regarding the playoff picture.
Marchand only played 11:41 of ice time on Tuesday, and not a second after the middle frame.
Following the game, Panthers Head Coach Paul Maurice eased any concern that Marchand had suffered some mysterious injury and would suffer the fate of his wounded teammates and have to miss some time.
“He’s been dealing with something, and it just got to the point we didn’t want to make it worse,” Maurice said. “We’re a little sensitive about injuries here now. We want to do our best to keep guys healthy.”
Ultimately, Maurice said holding Marchand out of the third period was a coach’s decision, not one made by the medical staff.
Considering Maruice started his postgame press availability by saying. “We started slow and found a way to get slower,” before going on to drag the efforts of the majority of his players, and himself, perhaps he didn’t feel it was worth risking Marchand during the third period on a night the boys just didn’t appear to have it.
Or maybe that’s just the message Maurice wants to send his players.
Whatever the situation may be, the main takeaway is that it seems Marchand will be fine moving forward, and Florida avoided another injury to a key player.
With Matthew Tkachuk on the cusp of making his regular season debut, gaining some depth on the forward ranks would be an amazing boost to the Panthers as they continue to push toward a playoff spot.
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Photo caption: Jan 6, 2026; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Florida Panthers left wing Brad Marchand (63) skates against the Toronto Maple Leafs during the second period at Scotiabank Arena. (Nick Turchiaro-Imagn Images)