FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Brad Marchand could be a marketing mastermind. After this Eastern Conference final, the Florida Panthers vet could wind up with sponsorships from Dairy Queen and now a honey company.

Asked by The Athletic on Monday morning if he has landed a Dairy Queen endorsement yet, Marchand said with a wink, “Working on it. Smart to give a little plug to them, right?”

Saturday night, during the second intermission of Game 3 against the Carolina Hurricanes, Sportsnet captured Marchand licking a spoon as he sat in his stall prepping for the third period.

Sportsnet sideline reporter Kyle Bukauskas asked Marchand after the game if he was fueling with a Blizzard since Marchand took some of his teammates to Dairy Queen in Raleigh, N.C., between Games 1 and 2.

Marchand played along, telling Bukauskas, “That’s a little chocolate chip cookie dough Blizzard right there. You can’t beat it. It’s the best dessert in the world. So I’d better get a lifetime free supply of Dairy Queen now.”

“It’s the best dessert in the world” 😋

Brad Marchand joins @sportsnetkyle to discuss the Panthers’ Game 3 win and his love for Dairy Queen. pic.twitter.com/J0vFM8afKz

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) May 25, 2025

Marchand thought it was obvious he was kidding.

“I was making a joke compared to our excursion from a couple nights before,” Marchand said. “I think people took it seriously. The amount of messages I got about people going to Dairy Queen (on Sunday) — and I appreciate the support; I love a good Blizzard more than anybody — but it’s not something I’ve had in the middle of the game.”

Was it peanut butter?

“It wasn’t peanut butter,” Marchand said. “I’m not eating peanut butter in the middle of a game. It wasn’t peanut butter, but it wasn’t a Blizzard. I would not eat a Blizzard in the middle of a game, I’ll tell you that right now.

“It was something healthy.”

What was it?

“It was honey. I was having honey. It was a spoonful of honey. Because I’m a bear,” Marchand said. “I’ve always loved honey. Actually, when I was growing up, I loved Winnie the Pooh, so I used to have a Winnie the Pooh bear and I would feed the bear honey.

“So it was covered in rock-hard honey. I don’t think (my parents) enjoyed cleaning up the mess. But it’s what we do in Halifax. We feed teddy bears honey.”

There you have it. Blizzard-gate is no more.

Mystery solved.

(Photo: Bruce Bennett / Getty Images)