N.S. stars embrace circumstances
Marchand, MacKinnon lead teams into Round 2
A bit of extra rest might have been nice but Brad Marchand would rather keep the momentum going.
The Boston Bruins got less than 48 hours off between eliminating the Toronto Maple Leafs and opening their second-round series against the Florida Panthers. But because of the emotional high of surviving the sevengame scare against the Leafs, Boston's captain embraced the idea of getting right back to work against another rival.
"We're feeling really good about our game," Marchand said in a media session after Game 7 against Toronto. "We're playing well, so it's great to be able to jump into another series quickly. I'd say the toughest part about this game, and the transition between this game and the next series, is that we're obviously riding a big high and we have to completely forget about it ... but the great thing about the playoffs is we earned another four games."
The Bruins and Panthers also met in last year's playoffs, with Florida getting the edge in a seven-game first-round win. In a bit of a parallel to the recent series with the Leafs, the Bruins got up 3-1 against the Panthers a year ago but then let the series get away from them.
And coincidentally enough, the Panthers had to beat the Maple Leafs in the next round on their way to the Stanley Cup final, where they lost to the Vegas Golden Knights. The connections and levels of symmetry involving the Leafs, Bruins and Panthers over the past two playoffs add another layer of intrigue for the current Boston-Florida series.
"There's seven games for a reason," Hammonds Plains' Marchand said. "Teams that get into the playoffs, they all deserve to be there and they all have a ton of pride.
“We’re playing well, so it’s great to be able to jump into another series quickly.”
Brad Marchand
Bruins captain
So when you get down in a series, you push. (The Leafs) pushed very hard and they did a great job of getting back in the series and made it tough.
"At the end of the day, you look back at it and if you lose, you catch a lot of heat. And if you win, nobody talks about dropping a couple of games. It's happened multiple times in the past where we've been up 3-1 and we've won the series and no one's said a word about it. They talk about the win. That's just how it goes. That's playoff hockey.
"Last year had no bearing on how this was going to play out. We knew that. It's a storyline and that's part of what comes with playoffs. That's going to happen but, at the end of the day, we did a great job of staying in the moment, believing in our group and coming out on top."
MACKINNON, AVS RESTED AND READY FOR STARS
The only other Nova Scotian still alive in the playoffs is Cole Harbour's Nathan
nd MacKinnon.
He and the Colorado Avalanche enjoyed a few days off after eliminating the Winnipeg Jets in five games in the first round. Meanwhile, the Dallas Stars needed seven gruelling games to get past the Golden Knights so the Avalanche are leaning into the opposite mindset of Marchand and the Bruins.
"It's good to have rest," Colorado winger Mikko Rantanen said in a media session. "I think it's important but after a couple days you kind of feel like I wish we could start but that's how it goes sometimes — some series go quicker and some series' goes to seven like they do. That's also just mental toughness to stay even keel and just work and wait for the next match."
MacKinnon is tied for fourth in league playoff scoring with nine points in five games but wasn't about to read anything into the convicing elimination of the Jets and the extra days off.
"It's just a step," he told reporters.
The series opens on Tuesday in Dallas.
NOVA SCOTIA’S BOWERS EARNS NEW DEAL WITH DEVILS
In case you missed it, Herring Cove's Shane Bowers signed a two-year contract extension with the New Jersey Devils last week.
The 24-year-old centre got into eight NHL games this season after appearing in just one in his first four seasons as a pro. He didn't register any points during his New Jersey audition but he showed enough to earn the new deal, valued at $775,000 per season at the NHL level and an annual average of $225,000 in the AHL.
Bowers was drated in the first round (28th overall) in 2017 by the Ottawa Senators. He has since been a member of the Colorado Avalanche and Boston Bruins organizations. He joined the Devils on June 26, 2023 after a trade from the Bruins for defenceman Reilly Walsh.
Bowers had 14 points in 43 games with the the Utica Devils in the AHL in 2023-24.