Bennett, Marchand Squash Beef; Join Forces With Florida Panthers

“I loved being his teammate playing with him at the 4 Nations,” Marchand said. “I am very excited to be here and be his teammate again and try to go on a really good run.”

FORT LAUDERDALE — Any bad blood between Sam Bennett and Brad Marchand is water under the bridge at this point.

Well, kind of…

“Yeah, he’s still a scumbag,” Marchand joked.

Less than a year after Bennett threw a headshot at Marchand that kept him out of most of Florida’s second-round series against the Boston Bruins, they now find themselves as teammates on the Panthers.

The good news? This is not the first time they were put in the same locker room to hash out their differences.

Bennett and Marchand played together — on the same line, no less — with Team Canada at the 4 Nations Face-Off and won the tournament.

“I think [the trade] still happens, but you’re just not sure how that room is going to feel,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice joked. “I don’t have to separate them. They don’t have to dress in different rooms. They’re good with each other now. They’re great with each other.”

Marchand was able to get a firsthand experience of what it was like to play with Bennett.

Bennett scored the game-tying goal in the title game over Team USA while the duo proved to be a frustrating tandem for anybody to play against in a best-on-best setting.

Now they take it to the NHL. Good luck.

“Benny is great,” Marchand said.

“I really had a great time getting to know him at 4 Nations. We get along really, really well. I wasn’t surprised that we would get along. As much as you don’t want things like that to happen to you, I’ve been on the other side of that, and I know that things like that happen because you’re competing and you just playing the game hard and play the right way. And he does.”

Bennett and Marchand had the chance to learn that they were not too much different after all. Not that they did not already after playing against each other in the playoffs for two years in a row, but they have certainly endeared themselves to each other when wearing the same color sweater.

“We’re all competitors,” Bennett said. “I think you never take anything personally.

“You can be rivals as much as you want on the ice when you’re playing against each other, but as soon as you’re on the same team and we’re in the same jersey, everything’s forgotten about the past. You’re automatically teammates and good friends.”

But just because it’s forgiven and forgotten about does not mean it can’t be joked about.

And that’s the beauty of it.

“That’s great, that’s what it’s all about,” Bennett said. “As soon as we added him into the group chat, he was chirping his first message. It was a chirp right away. You love that. It breaks the ice and that’s just who he is. And we’re excited to have that personality here.”

Marchand is excited to be there, too — for more reasons than one…

“I loved being his teammate playing with him at the 4 Nations,” Marchand said. “I am very excited to be here and be his teammate again and try to go on a really good run. He’s one of those guys you absolutely want to play with and not against, and I’m sure my jaw is really looking forward to playing with him.”