Paul Maurice, Florida Panthers Off Day Before Game 2 vs. New York Rangers

Paul Maurice, Florida Panthers Off Day Before Game 2 vs. New York Rangers

Matthew has a fantastic sense of what’s needed because he can read the game and read the play and in the game that you’re talking about kulakov I think was suspended for that and both possibly both forsling and we were down three defenseman so what we needed was a real smart game from our offensive guys right those are the guys that that you need to recognize that were a little short staff that night so he that’s what he does right big games he see seems and it’s as his whole career not just even with Florida he seems to be able to elevate to to understand what’s needed hey coach uh we’ve talked so much about just your guys ability to limit shots on goal and be able to suppress the opponents second period yesterday you guys had I think it was a 14-minute stretch without allowing Shan go you had a few times in Boston what’s impressing you most about the team still being able to do that and potentially elevated especially as the rounds get deeper and you’re facing the top tier Talent as you guys keep going I think both teams are good defensively you know there wasn’t a lot of great offense and if you’re looking at eight chances based on the two breakaways they got they may have had the The Edge because it’s a grinder both ways from the bench level it doesn’t feel that the game was shut down at any point there were a couple of stretches I think in the Tampa series and in the Boston series that I thought we felt From the Bench it felt like we had the game locked down that they weren’t going to get much in a block of time right they’re too good of teams for you to think okay we’re going to we’re going to win this game I didn’t feel that last night because of the speed of it so even if the puck doesn’t get to the net I think he both teams had 19 missed missed net that that’s not just you know a missed shot that’s that’s just enough of a a lane being taken away from the shooter that that you’re missing the net so we we had a block of time last night where they didn’t get one on goal that doesn’t mean they weren’t very dangerous in that block of time and the style of this series with the speed going up and down the ice I don’t think that you’re ever going to get real comfortable that you’ve got you know you’re in control certainly in the middle part of the ice I mean even with offensive zone time that we had there was a break at the end of it and boom they’re going on a breakway so maybe that’s just the coach needs to do more breathing exercises on the bench but it didn’t it didn’t feel like we had the game shut down in any way Paul you you mentioned uh last round just how difficult the fourth line decisions were for you to make especially because maybe lomberg especially did nothing wrong to get out of the lineup how how did he handle it behind the scenes I understand all these guys are Pros but did you have to meet with them and try to keep them patient not so much necessarily meet with him specifically over the other players but we met with all of them uh individually that was a tough one Ryan got sick and he came out of the lineup and both Steve Loren and Kyle ooso ended up coming in um they were just really good they they they scored scor two goals in a game that line and and won us a game so now they can’t come out they go back into the Boston series and I thought they were good the first game but they were better that’s a that was as good a game as I’ve seen Ryan play right but intelligent hard but in control very quick um so credit to them I don’t I don’t think that that you coached them through it I don’t think I coached them through it and made it better Ryan’s been here a long time he’s part of the fabric so it was it was possibly more personal in some ways for him especially to be missing out right when you when you can finish the Tampa series but he got back in and got to be a part of it I think the players that we brought in have earned the right when they get in the lineup but at the very least both cousins in lomberg could say I understand may maybe it doesn’t feel good but I understand why they’re in back right J coach uh after the game Bob obviously had a lot of big moments but what he wanted to talk about was how the team played after Bennett’s goal there to make it three nothing you guys still a couple block shots couple big hits just how much do you like that as a coach how important is it for this team no matter what to never kind of stop playing your game even when it might already be in the bag whole especially there were there were a couple and Ryan lomber to a heavy block there that he doesn’t need to take um what I like is that they celebrate each other the good things and it’s not just you know the top end scores it’s it’s certainly the the guys who don’t get necessarily the ice time that the other players do but they do they celebrate it on the bench uh the hard things and the fact that they recognize it is important side second d uh coach during the regular season you guys were one of the best road teams three in Boston one here in New York just these aren’t easy environments to play with in the regular season let alone the playoffs how have you guys kind of been able to thrive in that situation away from home when you don’t always have the matchups and stuff like that I I don’t think our game is based on us feeling good that’s the best way I could describe it to you I try not to take this out for dinner but like um things kind of drastically changed in the NHL when the third lines changed so there’s probably only a handful of teams in the NHL that have checking lines anymore um interesting enough Carolina’s got a really good checking line in the stall line and there’s a big difference between their home and road record I don’t think this is true of Winnipeg but the Lowry line is a dominant checking line mind you go back when when they said used to say well you know it was such a big deal home and road was a major deal that’s the way teams were built they had and usually three veteran guys and you could get away with clutching and grabbing so when you were at home you got your check and line out against their number one line you could shut them down um and that’s why I think there was such a disparity the third line is no longer built that way the salary caps the Youth of these players coming in uh when they took out the obstruction was a major change in our game and then the you see almost all the checking line disappears so um that Home Advantage that you used to have with it I think is gone right you’re going to put especially when you look at the Rangers and the Panthers put 12 really good forwards out in the ice and they can all score and they can all check so I don’t I I haven’t felt that I think the game changed I think Road’s not nearly as difficult a place to play as it used to be because you don’t have that dominant checking line you got to try to work your guys away from take a few more for Coach front right oh the course of the regular season you talked about instances where Evan Rodriguez has stepped up and being a leader at some points I mean for him what what what makes it so easy for him to come into a a room as established as as yours and become a leader and uh be a part of it so quickly yeah I think I think it was Anton londell that said that last year that so we kind of try to protect our culture and ask players you know what’s the best part of a plan for the Panthers in londel made a comment that how accepting all the players are in the room it’s like and the new guys that came in even last year said it feels like I’ve played here 10 years with these guys so that’s the players and the leadership and the culture that that they have and they’ve built to Evans credit he got moved around a lot this year so he came in and and they were very good line he played with barov for a big chunk of the year and then we just had people kind of injuries come in and out and what happened was he went over and played with lcer ran and londell and he played his best hockey and that’s almost the turn for lundell in his year as well he he you know he he didn’t put a lot of points up early in the year and he’s kind of struggling I think a little bit but when he went there there was some speed uh to that line so they kind of found their place I can still move him around which is a nice asset to have but he’s found his place we’ll do three more front left my coach just the fans back home curious what you guys do on an off day especially being here in New York City do you go out restaurants or what do you during this time no you know what I think the I think the dining out portion of the season is in the regular season uh so our routine is we almost have a split group we only skate now on game days we we don’t do anything on in terms of on Ice the players that didn’t play last night are going to go over to Chelsea Pier here in skate we have a a rehab program that we run a recovery program that we run so everybody’s down everybody has to get up and eat breakfast then we do a u medical portion or they go they all run through kind of the trainers to make sure that their body’s working right then they’ll team performance guys take them to a kind of a recovery deal um coaches will just stay here and grind video we’ll do one meeting today one video meeting today U we flip that around whether it’s even strength if we think we need to or if it’s special teams um and then they have a lounge here so most of the guys will come back and watch the game here tonight but porn rain out there right now it’s a good reason to stay inside Paul I I’ve never covered one of your training C but but U kachuck mentioned two night two nights ago when we were here for the intros that uh that it was the first five days are brutal and he brought it up again last night saying that it gets you uncomfortable uh you know the feeling of of of discomfort for the players is that the intention of what you do and what what do you do those five first five days um no it’s interesting so the first five days are to make everybody equal and then we we go in and play a double header and everybody plays so it’s kind of a a way to level out your room whether you’re a a kid that just got drafted or your barkoff you’re all going to go through the exact same things at the camp in the first five days I I I’m sure somewhere there’s camps that are tougher or different ours aren’t like it’s not like we skate them for an hour our drills are hard they’re heavy and they are all of the hard components of our systems is what we cover in the first 5 days so they I mean very little talk about offense almost none how do we defend how hard do we defend and we can measure it you know and the you know what’s the truth probably last year two years ago new coach right and this is going to be hard it has to be they almost needed that right because they were kind of distraught about the way the playoffs had finished and they needed kind of it’s almost cathartic a bit so we worked them really really hard and we and they got through it they survived it and and then we talked about that kind of all year how hard that was and that we survived it and it was a kind of a sign of strength this year our training camp was exactly the same as last year the exact same drills to the minute and I know exactly the length of the skates and how hard they skated so we can kind of measure everything with those chips they have on these guys up and down and they worked harder so they put more effort into they pushed themselves harder this year than last year and I wasn’t screaming at them to do it and that’s when you’re kind on on the bench going okay these guys are they’re a focused group right from the start the first one they’re kind of looking at you with big guys going when’s this going to end again and this one they kind of go okay we’re doing we call them pucks but for our skates at the end we’re doing 10 pucks okay we know it’s going to be it’s going to suck and then by the time they get to that sixth or seventh Puck they start cheering for each other and and it kind of binds them last question second row coach you talked yesterday about losing game one last round and having to kind of write the ship against Boston uh obviously this round you have a solid start so how do you maintain build upon that well that’s what we’re talking about today for sure right what was the difference we won game one against Tampa and then I thought Tampa played its best game the next the next game and then we we very probably played our best game in game two so we will assume then that the loser of game one plays their best game in game two and we’re going to have to be that good tomorrow because both teams are still fresh right we had like before last night we’ played one game in about seven days right it’s kind of same with the Rangers with big they’re fresh so one game doesn’t hurt anybody they’re going to be going tomorrow and they’ll be fast and then we won’t necessarily look at it as a game there’s going to be a block of time block of time for all four teams left where they own the game so we had a stretch of time where they Rangers didn’t get a shot but there was also a stretch of time they were on us pretty good third shift out in the first period after the penalty kill in the third manage those blocks just just don’t try to play 60 Minutes in one and manage the blocks of time where the other teams rolling

Florida Panthers coach Paul Maurice speaks on his team’s off day on Thursday, May 23, 2024 in New York.

The Panthers beat the New York Rangers 3-0 in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference final on Wednesday night.

The Panthers lead the series 1-0; Game 2 is at Madison Square Garden on Friday at 8 (ESPN).

Panthers Shut Down Rangers in Game 1: https://floridahockeynow.com/florida-panthers-3-new-york-rangers-0-game-1-eastern-conference-final-may-22-2024/

Florida Panthers ‘Jacked’ to be at MSG: https://floridahockeynow.com/being-on-stage-at-madison-square-garden-has-florida-panthers-jacked/

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The Panthers are coming off a 2-1 win over the Boston Bruins in the second round. Florida won that best-of-7 series in 6.

On Wednesday, Matthew Tkachuk gave the Panthers a 1-0 lead in the first period off assists from Carter Verhaeghe and Gus Forsling.

That lead stood until the third when Carter Verhaeghe and Sam Bennett each scored.

Sergei Bobrovsky made 23 saves in his first shutout since Game 3 against the Carolina Hurricanes exactly one year ago.

Florida is 3-0 in Game 1 of the ECF dating to 1996; the Panthers have also won their past seven ECF games dating to Game 6 against the Penguins in 1996.

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Video Courtesy Florida Panthers