(Photo credit: Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images)

The Boston Bruins suffered a crushing loss Thursday night that hampered their dwindling postseason push.

For Bruins fans, Friday's NHL trade deadline turned out even worse.

As Boston prepared to play at the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday, Bruins general manager Don Sweeney appeared to wave the white flag on the campaign by trading away three key players, including captain Brad Marchand.

Not long after Friday's trade deadline passed at 3 p.m. ET, it was revealed that the Bruins dealt Marchand, beloved among the Boston legion, to the Florida Panthers, who have become one of their most hated rivals.

The Bruins received a second-round pick that can become a 2027 or 2028 first-rounder if the Panthers win two series in the playoffs and Marchand plays in at least 50 percent of their playoff games. Boston also retained half of Marchand's remaining salary.

Marchand, 36, is listed as week-to-week with an upper-body injury. He helped the Bruins to their first Cup in 39 years in 2011 and was a member of three Presidents' Trophy-winning teams in 2014, 2020 and 2023.

The 5-foot-9 winger has 21 goals and 47 points in 61 matches and is on an expiring contract.

'I love Brad,' Sweeney said on a media call. '... We've been trying to sign Brad all year long. We had a gap there. I respect where he believes his market value is. I hope he respects our position, because he's beloved here. I would never close the door.'

On their way to consecutive Stanley Cup Final appearances that included their first-ever championship last season, the Panthers thumped Boston in two testy, fracas-filled series.

Last season, Marchand was knocked out of the series by Florida's Sam Bennett -- Marchand's new teammate and recently with him on the championship-winning Canadian squad in the 4 Nations Face-Off last month.

As the deadline approached, Boston received center Casey Mittelstadt, 2024 third-round pick William Zellers and a second-round pick for center Charlie Coyle. Boston traded defenseman Brando Carlo to Toronto, while Boston acquired defenseman Henri Jokiharju from Buffalo.

After outplaying Carolina in one of its better recent showings, Boston appeared to be headed toward overtime Thursday, but a harmless pass by Nikita Zadorov near goalie Joonas Korpisalo resulted in disaster. The defenseman's stick snapped and the puck went to Seth Jarvis in the slot for the game-winner, and the Hurricanes won 3-2.

Boston was dealt its third straight setback (0-3-0) and continued its 1-6-2 spiral since Feb. 5.

The Lightning won for the second straight time after having their eight-game winning streak snapped Monday, but whether or not captain Victor Hedman will be in the lineup is uncertain.

The club's captain and leader on both the back end and the top power-play unit, the Swedish defenseman flexed his left leg after casual contact with Buffalo's Alex Tuch in the first period and was unavailable in the remainder of the Lightning's 6-5 comeback win over the woeful Sabres.

Hedman, 34, skated just three shifts for a total of 2:59 in the first of three matchups between the division opponents.

'I don't know. We'll see about Saturday,' coach Jon Cooper said of Hedman following his team's 11th win in 13 outings (11-1-1).

Newly acquired left winger Oliver Bjorkstrand won it with a tiebreaking goal 100 seconds into the third period, but it took Erik Cernak's sliding block in a 6-on-3 penalty kill to seal the win in the final seconds.

The Lightning won for the seventh straight time on home ice and are 23-7-2 there.

Jake Guentzel (32 goals) reached the 30-marker milestone for the fifth time in his career with his second hat trick with Tampa Bay, while goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy recorded his eight consecutive 30-win season.

--Field Level Media