Florida Panthers Coach Paul Maurice Talks Barkov Injury, Edmonton Oilers on SCF Off Day

Florida Panthers Coach Paul Maurice Talks Barkov Injury, Edmonton Oilers on SCF Off Day

want call two for you first on the bench your view n obviously roller coaster first to Bob then he scor 10 seconds later the arena of course the cheer just what was it like your perspective kind of watching that unfold and you kind of have fun with that the room today so you have to understand From the Bench there’s two corners two sides of the ice you really don’t see much you got to look at the Jumbotron so I see him Spin and then my eyes kind of get away from I’m just looking where everybody else is in the I I think this P’s coming north and almost went five hole so uh yeah you don’t see that very often and then he gets up the ice and get on him and nice little draw pass pck in that but he’s been I don’t think either team that’s not true I don’t think Rd have been up the ice quite as much as they were in the last series um and that is probably a function of respect of their transition game on something that gets knocked down like not even a turnover just a broken play you’re up the middle of the ice you got a problem so but he picked the right time to get up we had good control r i inside pass two lell and then he put the right holding into and then on Evan Rodriguez we talked about how you have you know the pairs of fors that keep together you that third guy Rody’s kind of been that third guy on every line at some point how do you know when a player can play that role and kind of be that s arm oh you’re looking for blocks of time of of success it doesn’t have to dominate it’s certainly not going to last no line does blocks of time and then you probably have probably three or four things that we can do up front with our lines vladimer played with Barky you know with three guys that have played that left side Reinhardt is the consistent p and because of injuries then you’re almost forced to look at everything which is really really good for you you don’t like it at the time but when you get into a game even last night when barov leaves the game we get fairly close to lines that we’ve understood that we had to run for five or six games so it’s not hey I’m playing with somebody news me I’m back playing with you again so the adversity helps front row coach ONN barov any update have you been able to talk with him since last night he came in today he wasn’t worse so that’s a really good thing and the real assessment will be tomorrow but if he continues to progress we should be in good shape and then just secondly real quick if he wasn’t able go you’ve used Anton to be able to fill spots whenever you have top six just knowing that obviously if it gets scenario just knowing that you’ve used him before and with how well he’s been playing in the playoffs just having the luxury of a guy like londell to be able to fill roles that need to be filmed yeah so we have experience with with barov out and when you even in this run while he didn’t miss a game we played five games with San Bennett so we we’ve done it enough that everybody if you walked in there and say if Barky doesn’t play What are the lines the guys would all know probably what the lines are right side George yeah uh going back to barov um is there a possibility that he’s I mean do you expect him to travel with you first and could he you know what Geor I I don’t know that I can do all the hypotheticals for you he left we had uh some things that needed to get looked at today they got looked at so there’s nothing Sinister there so we kind of passed that he felt better today feels good um but you got to give it then another 24 hours to make sure that that he’s still feeling strong and if that he continues to progress then we think he’ll be a player for us and to to follow up on Nik Mika uh the sense of humor with him like maybe a lot of people don’t talk like last night it was like you know he woke Bobby up or whatever he was like good thing Bob was awake he’s a great personality and I’ve said this kind of during the year and we we we you know I were always I was going to say it’d be great if you guys could spend a lot of time with him but then we spent a lot of time trying to make sure you guys don’t spend too much time with our guys so they’re forget that but he is an incredibly interesting guy what’s great is when he’s coming to the bench if there’s something that’s broken down and I’m not sure if he’s screaming in Finnish or it’s in English but he’s is funny as hell um and it’s consistent so he plays at a really high energy level a lot of times these kind of big lanky guys are you don’t really think they’re moving that fast but they are he he looks like he’s he’s getting across the ice and you know he competes hard that’s what what what we like the most of him but he talks at a high energy level too on the bench and that’s great right we we have some quiet players on our bench and that’s fine that’s who they are but those guys like Mika who’s who’s got nobody knows well there’s four other finish guys know what he’s saying but nobody else knows what he’s saying right side well you wake up this morning I presume you probably watch the game again um what are your thoughts on the hit on barkov day after there’s your view different than maybe what it was at the time well I would I would view it without as much emotion and um and then I I I don’t it’s done rest all dep penalty on the the league looks at every just about every single hit they’ll make their decision and then we we aren’t dealing with that anymore today and then part of that is just the discipline mental discipline to to leave the game where it is regardless of the result and I I don’t need understand why you guys want to talk about it’s the story should seven weeks of this stuff so you guys got a grind but I’d stay out of it it’s done for me it’s all done left side second row going to Edmonton now you know they’re going to come out desperate for game three what do you guys have to do to make sure you stay within your game and and are prepared to handle their fo well first you kind of reach back and take a look at what you’ve learned right we we’ve been in situations where there would be a heavy Push by what would then be the home team um um there is a an advantage in you know they got two basic advantages going back to Edmonton and one is that adrenaline push that they get that there’s a certain Freedom that comes as you get you know we move further into series for both teams there’s not 10 games left we know that and also last match U at home that’s the other thing they get to do so I I I don’t know I’m going to make very sure I don’t walk another room any differently than I have at any other time for a road game we’re pretty good road team they’re an excellent excellent home team as you [Music] understand but how do you think that do you think that the star players are protected proted what enough but yes I do I think overall in that area the game is never been as in good a shape and is now there just aren’t players on the ice first of all just there just wondering if there’s any players on the ice who are consistently being suspended because they they take shots at Star players you just don’t see it and and there’s I I think the players respect each other on the ice it’s it’s the funnel the stakes are high the hits are finished I have no problem with that we’d like both teams to stay 100% healthy straight through it that would be fair for two it’s not just players it’s the organizations work so hard to get there that would be the perfect Ro but I think I think the league and the players more importantly the players themselves do take care of each other on the a FR left Paul last night as you came to talk to the media after the game you didn’t necessarily look like the coach was up to nothing in the standup final series grumpy seem to be in a lot better mood today would you please talk us through that emotional roller coaster that you go through post game to the morning after yeah I I am try to present myself honestly um I I would have measured my words I know going into that press conference that shut up like I done myself just shut up because it’s emotional right you’re wired so I tried to keep it short I know I’m being a bit of a jerk to you and you guys don’t deserve it you didn’t do anything wrong but that’s who I that’s how I felt I that’s exactly what I was feeling but I was I don’t think that’s true what I just said to you you didn’t get to see what I was feeling so the manifestation of it was just grumpy grinding his teeth but I didn’t swear I don’t think the jar is empty and I I I want our team to have the mental discipline to leave the game at the night so you you got my emotion from the game last night and that one’s gone so today is my off day it’s pouring rain in Florida b i okay left side front are you a big over fan I’m sorry are you a big over fan how are you feeling I like that um uh they came back and played but it looked a little scary Lan and nead how did they come to it okay yeah we we we’re good and just because you guys were so banged up last year you are healthy sort of now is that kind of a blessing I mean with the depth you have yeah it’s a complete blessing we were Beat to Death so EAD had a broken foot that popped his road twice and a strained or torn and oblique and I think he did three of those in the Boston series how much fun was that six weeks for him B had broke his foot and didn’t tell anybody he just if you don’t tell a trainer he doesn’t know that that shot block HT and at the end of the season he said yeah you probably should exent my foot we had a whole bunch of those right that’s so we’re lucky and that as and that’s the fear of all of this for the Oilers and for us the changes on a hit you go from your team looks a certain way a loose R and blocks a shot and it’s over and now your team looks different that’s but that is the uh the risk I guess we I don’t take it the risk the players take in a full context is it luck some of it some of it is yeah you know like that buck it’s loosy 2 in lower you know it’s a great shop loock and we’re high five and everybody and we look a little bit different is element take two more questions so the practice is like the day before a Series starts they’re almost fun to watch right if you do any kind of competition drills they’re all about five feet off each other they just nobody wants anything bad to happen two more for Coach right side second row Paul you guys I think only allowed seven shots on goal in the first two periods I can’t imagine something that happens to Edmonton often um just what did you like when you went back and and rewatched like know the defensive performance I thought was it was an extension of our third period we play a fairly hard Gap game defensively if you are off the Eon Oiler is more than any other team in the league if you’re off that Gap by a few feet you’re not even wrong right there on the video I can’t say why are you 50 ft off this guy you’re only 3 feet off the guy and I I understand why you human nature says you have to give ice to some of these players they’re so fast but it’s a it’s a you can’t get caught in a Gra in that gray area playing this game that we play and I thought we were pretty courageous with our Gap last question back left just please wait for the microphone Paul you talked about some of the funny stuff uh that happened last night that was even a sleeper hole there at the end of the game um how is I’ve got about five minutes left to go on the game I’m sorry I’m not joking I haven’t got to that sleep the whole part I was going to say is it more difficult for players to ad I guess rule book is not the same now as it is maybe in October I don’t I don’t know like like three or four of those calls I would consider light it’s not a complaint but um you want the hitting in the game right I I don’t feel feel that the rule book I don’t feel like we played four games regular season games against Boston that were every bit as heavy as every playoff game we’ve played possibly with the exception of the six games we played against Boston which were brutal right as as heavy and as mean as I’ve ever seen it so I I don’t feel this is an overly physical Series this is a fast series from bench level that’s I walk away going oh my God these guys can get up and down the ice both teams the transition speed is awesome so that’s the way I view the series I don’t find it that there’s you know little blow up and and that’s going to happen with the intensity but there’s not continuous scrums kind of like our entire Boston series from last year they dropped the puck just to end the scrums thank you for your time okay is that fair okay is it dark of where the pink bunny slippers this morning or the blue bunny slippers

Florida Panthers coach Paul Maurice spoke the day after his team beat the Edmonton Oilers 4-1 in Game 2 of the 2024 Stanley Cup Final on Tuesday, June 11, 2024, from Fort Lauderdale.

The Panthers have a 2-0 lead in the series with Game 3 on Thursday night at 8 p.m. (ABC) in Edmonton.

Florida lost captain Aleksander Sasha Barkov after he took a flying elbow to the head from Edmonton star Leon Draisaitl.

Panthers In Control, Lose Barkov to Head Shot: https://floridahockeynow.com/florida-panthers-4-edmonton-oilers-1-game-2-stanley-cup-final-barkov/

Carter Verhaeghe Playoff Menace for Panthers: https://floridahockeynow.com/carter-verhaeghe-does-it-again-for-florida-panthers-in-the-playoffs/

Gretzky Has Praise for Barkov: https://floridahockeynow.com/the-great-sasha-wayne-gretzky-has-high-praise-for-barkov/

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On Monday night, the Panthers trailed 1-0 before Niko Mikkola tied the score in the second.

Evan Rodrigues scored twice in the third — including on the power-play resulting from the Barkov hit — with Aaron Ekblad adding an empty net.

Sergei Bobrovsky had 18 saves; Anton Lundell had two primary assists.

——

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