SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Brad Marchand put the puck in the back of the net for the Florida Panthers on Saturday night, then pointed a finger in the air and looked to the sky.
The reason was obvious.
This goal was for Selah.
Marchand's sixth goal of this season and the 430th of his career was unlike none other. It came three days after he was home in Nova Scotia, paying tribute to the life of 10-year-old Selah Panacci-MacCallum — the daughter of his close friend JP MacCallum. Selah died Oct. 24 of adrenal cortical carcinoma, a rare form of cancer.
“The hockey gods always come through,” Marchand told the Panthers' broadcast after the second period, in an interview aired throughout the arena. “It was a really, really tough week. That's a special one to get for Selah.”
So, too, was the next goal: Marchand also had what became the winner in the shootout, with the Panthers topping the Dallas Stars 4-3.
He said he knew all his friends from Nova Scotia were watching. He said he also knew someone was watching from above, too.
“I think it means a lot emotionally for kind of everybody in Selah’s life," Marchand said. "She loved hockey more than anything and got so much joy out of it, just like we all do, and we play it because we love it and we have a lot of fun doing it. These are memories when you go through tough times, you kind of look back on and see if they bring a little bit of light in the dark moments and put a smile on our faces.”
Marchand missed Florida’s game against Anaheim on Tuesday to be with his friend’s family in Nova Scotia, and did so with the Panthers’ blessing. Marchand filled in for JP MacCallum as the coach of the under-18 March and Mill Co. Hunters in Halifax, Nova Scotia on Wednesday night; Marchand co-owns that team.
That game Wednesday was a fundraiser for the MacCallum family.
“We fully appreciate the things that are most important and hockey's very, very important,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said earlier Saturday. “But there's some things that just easily outweigh it and they need to be dealt with. And what he's going through is real. ... There's things that just trump the game of hockey.”
Marchand spent about 12 hours getting home from Nova Scotia on Friday, dealing with flight delays. He hadn't worked out in about a week before skating Saturday morning. He wasn't feeling his best.
And he put on a show anyway.
“You probably could have expected it before the game,” Panthers forward Sam Reinhart said.
Marchand said his bond with JP MacCallum goes back for many years, and that he simply had to make the long trip home to pay tribute to Selah.
“She lived life to the fullest,” Marchand said. “And walking away from the week, I have such a new perspective on life and what it all means and how precious it is and how precious time is. It's every day. It's not just a game. It's not just a sport. It's how we live every single day and she lived to the fullest.
“To carry on her memory, that's what we're going to do. We're going to live every day to the fullest, enjoy it and we're not going to take it for granted.”
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Florida Panthers left wing Brad Marchand (63) celebrates after scoring a goal during the second period of an NHL hockey game against the Dallas Stars, Saturday, Nov. 1, 2025, in Sunrise, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
Florida Panthers left wing Brad Marchand celebrates after scoring a goal during the second period of an NHL hockey game against the Dallas Stars, Saturday, Nov. 1, 2025, in Sunrise, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
Florida Panthers left wing A.J. Greer (10) celebrates with teammates including left wing Brad Marchand (63) and defenseman Aaron Ekblad (5) after scoring the team's third goal against the Vegas Golden Knights during the third period of an NHL hockey game, Saturday, Oct. 25, 2025, in Sunrise, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — An ailing astronaut returned to Earth with three others on Thursday, ending their space station mission more than a month early in NASA’s first medical evacuation.
SpaceX guided the capsule to a middle-of-the-night splashdown in the Pacific near San Diego, less than 11 hours after the astronauts exited the International Space Station.
“It’s so good to be home,” said NASA astronaut Zena Cardman, the capsule commander.
It was an unexpected finish to a mission that began in August and left the orbiting lab with only one American and two Russians on board. NASA and SpaceX said they would try to move up the launch of a fresh crew of four; liftoff is currently targeted for mid-February.
Cardman and NASA’s Mike Fincke were joined on the return by Japan’s Kimiya Yui and Russia’s Oleg Platonov. Officials have refused to identify the astronaut who had the health problem or explain what happened, citing medical privacy.
While the astronaut was stable in orbit, NASA wanted them back on Earth as soon as possible to receive proper care and diagnostic testing. The entry and splashdown required no special changes or accommodations, officials said, and the recovery ship had its usual allotment of medical experts on board. It was not immediately known when the astronauts would fly from California to their home base in Houston. Platonov’s return to Moscow was also unclear.
NASA stressed repeatedly over the past week that this was not an emergency. The astronaut fell sick or was injured on Jan. 7, prompting NASA to call off the next day’s spacewalk by Cardman and Fincke, and ultimately resulting in the early return. It was the first time NASA cut short a spaceflight for medical reasons. The Russians had done so decades ago.
The space station has gotten by with three astronauts before, sometimes even with just two. NASA said it will be unable to perform a spacewalk, even for an emergency, until the arrival of the next crew, which has two Americans, one French and one Russian astronaut.
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov is helped out of the SpaceX Dragon Endeavour spacecraft onboard the SpaceX recovery ship SHANNON after they re-entered the earth in a middle-of-the-night splashdown near San Diego, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (NASA via AP)
JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Kimiya Yui is helped out of the SpaceX Crew-11 capsule after they re-entered the earth in a middle-of-the-night splashdown near San Diego, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (NASA via AP)
NASA astronaut Mike Fincke is helped out of the SpaceX Crew-11 capsule after they re-entered the earth in a middle-of-the-night splashdown near San Diego, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (NASA via AP)
NASA astronaut Zena Cardman is helped out of the SpaceX Crew-11 capsule after they re-entered the earth in a middle-of-the-night splashdown near San Diego, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (NASA via AP)
This screengrab from video provided by NASA shows the NASA's SpaceX Crew-11 capsule being taken into the recovery vessel after crew members re entered the earth in a middle-of-the-night splashdown near San Diego, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (NASA via AP)
This screengrab from video provided by NASA shows NASA astronaut Mike Fincke getting helped out of the SpaceX Crew-11 capsule after they re-entered the earth in a middle-of-the-night splashdown near San Diego, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (NASA via AP)
This screengrab from video provided by NASA shows NASA Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui being helped out of the SpaceX Crew-11 capsule after they re-entered the earth in a middle-of-the-night splashdown near San Diego, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (NASA via AP)
This screengrab from video provided by NASA shows Russian astronaut Oleg Platonov being helped out of the SpaceX Crew-11 capsule after they re-entered the earth in a middle-of-the-night splashdown near San Diego, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (NASA via AP)
Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov, left, NASA astronauts Mike Fincke, Zena Cardman, and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Kimiya Yui are seen inside the SpaceX Dragon Endeavour spacecraft onboard the SpaceX recovery ship SHANNON shortly after having landed in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Long Beach, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (NASA via AP)
This screengrab from video provided by NASA shows NASA astronaut Zena Cardman being helped out of the SpaceX Crew-11 capsule after they re-entered the earth in a middle-of-the-night splashdown near San Diego, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (NASA via AP)
This screengrab from video provided by NASA TV shows the SpaceX Dragon departing from the International Space Station shortly after undocking with four NASA Crew-11 members inside on Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (NASA via AP)
This photo provided by NASA shows clockwise from bottom left are, NASA astronaut Mike Fincke, Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov, NASA astronaut Zena Cardman, and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Kimiya Yui gathering for a crew portrait wearing their Dragon pressure suits during a suit verification check inside the International Space Station’s Kibo laboratory module, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (NASA via AP)
This screengrab from video provided by NASA shows recovery vessels approaching the NASA's SpaceX Crew-11 capsule to evacuate one of the crew members after they re-entered the earth in a middle-of-the-night splashdown near San Diego, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (NASA via AP)
This screengrab from video provided by NASA shows the NASA's SpaceX Crew-11 members re entering the earth in a middle-of-the-night splashdown near San Diego, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (NASA via AP)
This screengrab from video provided by NASA shows the NASA's SpaceX Crew-11 members re entering the earth in a middle-of-the-night splashdown near San Diego, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (NASA via AP)
