FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla.–For Brad Marchand, the past is the past.

Last spring, of course, Marchand took a sneaky punch to the jaw from Florida Panther forward Sam Bennett that concussed the Bruins’ captain in the playoffs. With the reverse angle that showed the punch not surfacing till several days later, Bennett escaped any supplemental discipline.

But Marchand said he wasn’t looking for any score-settling in the B’s season opener against the Stanley Cup champion Panthers, reiterating much of what he said at the time.

“Listen, that’s part of playoffs,” said Marchand after the B’s morning skate at the Panthers’ practice facility. “Again, I’ve said it plenty of times. In the playoffs, if you can knock players out, it only gives your team an advantage. That happens. Teams play very physical. They’re a very physical team and that’s part of their DNA. You don’t play this game expecting to never get hurt. I’ve been on both sides of the shots and, again, it’s part of the game. He definitely got away with one. You can see the replay and everything. But that’s how it goes and I’m not holding any animosity. I’m going to play just as hard as I always do.”

Even if he was inclined to seek a little payback, Marchand said it won’t rectify anything.

“The way I look at his things, it doesn’t matter what you do. Nothing changes the past and it’s all about being in the moment and moving forward,” said Marchand. “We have the same goal this year, different opportunity. And obviously, the goal is to let these guys get in the way of it again. They’re definitely a great team again, one that we’re going to have to go through to accomplish our goal. I think we’re built a little different this year and hopefully we give ourselves the best opportunity. But nothing that happens tonight or moving forward is going to change what happened. At the end of the day, they got the better of us on every pay in that series. It is with it is. You remember it and try to be better next time.”

The Panthers were set to raise their championship banner in a pregame ceremony on Tuesday. Could the Bruins’ use it as motivation?

“It’s obviously what we want to get to,” said Marchand. “There’s a long road ahead of us. That’s obviously the goal every year, to watch that banner raise up the following season, so I guess you can use it as motivation. It’s a symbol of what ever team in the league is trying to achieve. But at the end, we’re more concerned about the foundation that we’ve built in the group and the practice and the way we’re going to prepare for this day forward. It’s an opportunity to get a look at what it could look like down the road. But for us, it’s all about being in the moment, trying to get ready to play and put our best game on the ice.”…

The B’s have a handful of players who are still trying to reach their potential – Morgan Geekie, Trent Frederic, Riley Tufte, Justin Brazeau, Max Jones to name a few. Coach Jim Montgomery was asked what it would mean for the team if they are able to become the players the B’s believe they can be.

“If they reach their threshold, it means we can overwhelm people, physically, territorially. And those are two things that we’re looking to be much better at,” said Montgomery. “I thought we were a physical team last year but we’re built to be more physical. We’re built to wear people down below the tops and stay in the offensive zone. That’s why we’ve tweaked what we do as a team in order to accomplish that goal.”…

Jesper Boqvist played well for the B’s down te stretch but he didn’t quite fit in with the team’s goal of getting more imposing physically. He did not receive his qualifying offer, nor did his brother Adam get one from Columbus, making them both free agents. Florida scooped the both up.

“Whatever happened in Boston for me and Columbus for him, we were joking ‘Should we go to the same team?’ Not that we were seeking it, but Florida was the best fit for both of us and it’s crazy that its the same team that wanted us,” said Jesper.

Was he surprised the B’s didn’t try to retain him?

“Yes and no, I’d say. I didn’t play the full year, but I think I took steps along the year. But I’m really happy to be here,” he said…

Not surprisingly, Marchand said Jeremy Swayman got some of the usual grief from teammates over his whopper of a contract that took all of training camp to hammer out.

“It’s going to go on for a bit. He even got lit up in practice today,” said Marchand. “He was catching a little bit of heart. That’s part of it all. At the end of the day, he’s a great kid and very easy to joke around with and have fun and bantering. It’s going to go on for a long time.. but at the end of the day, I think he gets the last laugh in that.”…

Florida coach Paul Maurice was expecting a more intense game than you usually see in a season-opener.

“We’ve played each other 21 times in the last two years and I’d pay to watch every one of those games,” said Maurice. “It’s a rarity for me when you walk off the bench after a loss and you say ‘Man, I loved that game.’ And it’s happened a lot against the Bruins, even in the playoffs.”