Once despised, former Bruins captain becomes Florida Panthers hero

Trailing 1-0 in the Stanley Cup Final after an overtime loss in Game 1 to the Edmonton Oilers, the Florida Panthers were just seconds away from evening the series late Friday night with a 4-3 win in the third period. Then disaster struck.

Corey Perry tied the game for Edmonton with just 18 seconds left, forcing a second consecutive overtime. After a scoreless first extra session, Florida evened the series heading home for Games 3 and 4 next week after former Boston Bruins captain Brad Marchand scored on a breakaway in the second overtime for a 5-4 win.

Brad Marchand evens Stanley Cup Final at a game a piece

It's unusual to say, but Marchand is just three wins away from a second Stanley Cup title, having been dealt to the Florida Panthers at the trade deadline on March 7. It was an eye-opening move at the time, but to say that this is a golden opportunity for him to win another title would be an understatement.

Acquired for this moment, Marchand has been one of the best deadline additions, and he is built for this moment. The problem for Bruins fans is that he's doing it with the organization that has bounced the Black and Gold from the last two postseasons. Scoring a big goal in the playoffs is nothing new for Marchand, and Boston fans are not surprised; they just wish he were doing it wearing the Spoked-B.

Florida heads home needing to win three out of the final five games to win the Cup again, and with a team playing in its third straight Stanley Cup Final, getting it done would not be surprising to NHL fans, and doing it with Marchand would make it sting more from a distance.

The results will be mixed from Boston fans if Florida does win the Stanley Cup as to whether or not fans would be happy for Marchand, but one thing is for sure, his addition could end up being the difference when the dust settles over the next couple of weeks.