Bruins star Marchand likely to play tonight vs. Panthers; won’t complain about Bennett hit

Will Boston Bruins star Brad Marchand have his Willis Reed Moment?

This contentious playoff series between the Bruins and Florida Panthers has had about every bit of possible emotion through five games, so why not?

The Bruins captain practiced Thursday and it sounds like he’ll return for against the Panthers for Friday’s critical Game 6 in Boston He has been out of the series since the third period of Game 3 after being hit in the face by Sam Bennett in that game’s first period and then going head-first into a check in the third period.

Marchand’s thoughts on the Bennett hit?

“I think he plays hard,” Marchand told Boston media. “He’s an extremely physical player and a great player for (their) group. I think he got away with a shot. I’m not going to complain. That’s part of playoff hockey.

“That stuff happens, so I’m not going to sit here and complain about it. That’s part of the game.”

Marchand’s return would add to the emotional scene in Boston after the Bruins kept their season alive with a 2-1 win in Game 5 in Sunrise.

Marchand thought his own reputation as an instigator didn’t affect the decision not to penalize Bennett. A reverse angle of the hit came out two days after the play. Bennett’s right hand appears to punch Marchand, a play the Panthers center says was a split-second self-defense mechanism to protect himself and happened too quickly for him to actually think about throwing a punch.

“I think it would have been a different story if that camera angle came out a couple of days before, but it is what it is,’’ Marchand said. “It doesn’t matter at the end of the day. That’s the way it’s set up. Stuff like that happens. There are missed calls and missed situations, but that’s part of it.”

Marchand wasn’t blaming Bennett for playing hard.

“People don’t want to say it, but part of playoffs is trying to hurt every player on the other team, and the more guys you take out, the more advantage your team has,” he said. “People don’t say that, but that’s just a fact of the game.

“So every time you step on the ice, someone’s trying to hurt someone, and that’s just how it goes in the playoffs. And any time you can have an advantage on a team, it’s going to help your team win, and that’s part of the benefit of having a physical group.”

Boston coach Jim Montgomery said Marchand still has “some boxes to check” to play Friday night. But after practicing Thursday the thought is he’ll have an entrance like Willis Reed did for hobbling on the court in an iconic sports moment for the New York Knicks in the 1969 NBA Finals.

2. Odd stat of this rivalry: The Panthers have won the last five games in Boston dating to last season’s series win. But if it goes to Game 7 in Sunrise on Sunday night? Boston has won four of the last six there.

3. Montgomery said after Game 5 he needed to meet with the players on the power play to sort out some problems. The Bruins are just 1 of 14 in the series — or, looking at it another way, the Panthers’ penalty kill has been strong.

“Players gave feedback, we gave them some feedback, and we met in the middle,” he said after Thursday’s practice. “And I thought the power play looked a lot better out there.”

4. Aleksander Barkov practiced Thursday before Game 93 for the Panthers this year. Sam Reinhart didn’t. What’s telling there is coach Paul Maurice said they tried to talk Barkov into resting but he wanted to practice. Everyone has their routines.

5. Friday’s start is at 7 p.m. and on ESPN.