The more things change, the more they seem to remain the same.
As evidenced by the grey peppered across his scraggly playoff stubble, Brad Marchand is no longer the 23-year-old agent of chaos that socked Daniel Sedin in the face and helped the Bruins win their first Stanley Cup in 39 years.
Rather, he’s now a 37-year-old agent of chaos — hardened from years of missteps in the hike to hockey’s highest summit, but still the shot of on-ice adrenaline who helped the Florida Panthers cement their dynasty on Tuesday night.
Eight months after Marchand and the rest of the Bruins opened a season with so much promise at Florida’s Amerant Bank Arena, the former Boston captain closed out the most eventful year of his Hall-of-Fame career hoisting hockey’s most coveted prize above that same ice.