BOSTON — Brad Marchand didn’t like his chances of pulling it off, but he did actually try not to cry.

As the tribute video began on the TD Garden videoboard, the former Bruins captain-turned-Florida Panther star held back the tears as his eyes welled up and his face got red.

He held on through his first NHL goal and other nifty highlights, but when the screen showed him waving at his children through the glass during a warm-up years ago, the dam broke.

“I was trying not to cry, but as soon as I saw my kids on the screen, it hit like a ton of bricks,” said Marchand, who was playing at TD Garden for the first time since being traded to Florida. “The memories and the emotions and the incredible times.”

Marchand, who built his career by feeding off of his emotion, stopped trying to fight

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