Paul Maurice: Florida Panthers Home, Prep for Game 3 of Stanley Cup Final v Oilers

Paul Maurice: Florida Panthers Home, Prep for Game 3 of Stanley Cup Final v Oilers

when you play a team with Edmonton speed because you’re not always going to be on top of them or ahead of them sometimes you’re a little off so uh those guys can keep players to the outside keep the speed to the outside because they can just kind of hold hands in the middle and cover the boards front right well you’ve coached in a lot of playoff series you’ve coached in multiple finals what is it about the level of play between these two teams usually you get to this point a lot of teams are banged up or there’s an underdog here these are the two best teams what do you make of how good the quality of play has been in this series and how tight the margin of error is yeah it’s been fast like from the bench the speed seems to be really good and you know the first period in game two there’s there’s lots of action at both ends of the ice but neither team is casual with their defense at all it’s it’s both teams have I think really strong defensive schemes it’s just a testament to the quality of the talent level the depth of the talent level um because it feels from the bench they’re getting up and down the ice with really fast left side second row hey Paul um were you were you generally happy with both games or was there a discernable leap in quality from game one to game two for you i thought if I had concerns about the piece of our a piece of our game in game one I was slightly less concerned about it in game two but it was still there and what you’re trying to balance is I mean how much do you expect your team to get better when you’re playing against a very very good team so I I I don’t expect both teams will have times where they look like they’ve got possession of the game but it’s it’s just not going to last it doesn’t last and it’s not I haven’t felt an eb and flow in terms of the energy level on the ice so it’s been but sometimes you know there’s blocks of times where one team kind of owns the flow of the play and they almost seem to be coincidental to the icings you get in a couple of icings and then there’s a there’s a block of time where you get to half ice the team a little bit and they’ve done that to us and we’ve done that to them uh other than that I don’t think there’s been much of a breakdown in structure by either team they’re not far off it back left Dan paul I don’t know how much an experienced team a team that’s been here before needs it but Nate Schmidt is a guy who’s obviously playing well on the ice but he brings energy he brings noise off the ice he probably you know can cut some tension with the way he is i wonder like is a guy how important a guy like that is do you view that to be an important aspect right now when even if you’re experienced the pressure is still up yeah well that was part of the conversation in the summer last year because I’d had him briefly and he’s big smile guy right lots of chatter and we need that we we lost a few of those guys like we still talk about some of the players that have played here for the last two years that aren’t here anymore is they were really really important nick Cousins in Ottawa is a chirper right he never stopped talking but Mahura like a name that maybe you wouldn’t know Montour those guys never shut up which was great for us and then uh Nate does that uh I think a shock to you Brad baron does that a little bit but we got some Finnish guys you know Nico Mik is probably the most vocal but we got some other guys that now they don’t have to right they don’t have to when it gets a little tight or a little bit tense they don’t have to come out of personality to try to to lead almost by We got lots of guys that that can do that and they’re really important for sure right side third row first time back in this building since I haven’t been in here no it wasn’t finished when we we did the the ring yeah the ring ceremony this place wasn’t done when we came in and it was set up quite a bit different this is my first time seeing this it was quite a spot they did a great job on it that wasn’t my craft um that’s all you get George sorry brother jonah Gadovich last year doesn’t get to play um does dress for game seven to come out and get the all that stuff but how important is it for him to be really really really a part of this now well we felt right from the time that we signed him we thought he was positionally very very good and he played both sides and at the end of the year so our year- end meeting was Yona if you can find a half step that that should He’s a very strong man he’s a very fit man if he could find a half step then then you could be very impactful in these games he just doesn’t make a lot of mistakes he hits heavy an incredibly clean player he’s also has a bit of an enforcer role he’s as tough as they come in this league but he’s exceptionally clean so when he gets a five he rarely gets a two and a five right very smart player he scored 46 goals in junior right and that’s that’s real like he can shoot a puck it’s heavy but we felt he got faster and then he’s he’s had a kind of a a bunch of when we got him he was rehabbing off injury we had a pretty significant one two years ago felt he was slightly behind it kind of the whole year and then at the start of the years he’s had some injuries but what happened this year is he had a long run of health and then he said before in the last six weeks of our season we had a very very difficult schedule and that’s when Greer Nosk and Gajivic went together and they were really good there were nights they were our best line it’s not always how many goals you score i mean in terms of energy level consistency of systematic routes the basics so I think as a group and then when they came in in the Toronto series that that for me was the inflection point right they they had kind of got got us back to more of our style of game so Yona is a big part of that right side second row paul is there something about Brad’s game that surprised you or you didn’t expect uh seeing coaching him as opposed to watching him from afar and also as a person what what did you learn about uh well the hockey part of it you need to get on the ice with these guys before you get a real sense of what they can do and I didn’t appreciate how good his hands are it’s it’s in that kind of Matthew Kachchuck some of the things they do in the small for him to get to control that puck after Leon Dell came on the back check and got a stick over puck and still was able to that’s a that’s a set of hands that that’s at the top end right those guys are special so I didn’t know that till you get on the ice with them the personality part you know there was a little bit of Matthew Kachchuck in there i’m in Winnipeg he’s in Calgary i’m not a big Matthew Kachchuck fan i understand the fans don’t like those guys i was one of them and then he’s in Boston we’re here we had the two heaviest series that I’ve ever been a part of of the two Boston series last year i mean they asked this this is mild compared to what was going on there so but how positive he is every day he’s in a great mood every day and it starts at breakfast from the time he walks in right and that’s just who he is he’s a very upbeat positive caring person so I mean I don’t watch all the interviews but I’ll watch some and for for me with with Brad went back to and I told the story before we’re playing Bostoning and it’s ugly and he did an interview and it was outstanding like it was so good about it it would have benefited him to take a different tact in the media cuz at that point you know the Sam Bennett’s the scourge of the earth and the Bruins are you know it’s unfair and he came out and called the series exactly the way it was played he was right about it he was fair like he was unbiased in his approach and positive about both teams and I thought well like his answers were better than I would have given if I was trying to support the Florida Panthers but it was all honest and true he’s a great interview i think he because he’ll talk about the game he’s does he’s not hiding anything and he’s telling the truth at the same time he’s he’s an exceptional man really enjoyed having him left side second row coach I saw a comment recently about this there’s a real chance i didn’t say it there’s this AI thing going on i know i know it’s out of control i got a text i can’t believe you said you coaches shouldn’t touch the Stanley Cup no it’s right here it’s got you saying it no never said that well this comment seemed really fitting because someone said “Nobody takes a punch like the Florida Panthers.” Right the ability no matter what circumstances you’re in to get right back up and keep fighting and I’m just wondering if you could describe that quality in this team and how significant a role in particular it plays in a Stanley Cup final i think that that we’ve takes some beatings we take hits we get hit the standard theme is people have a general pretty strong idea of the style of game that we play and they play the same game when they play us it’s these series don’t look like maybe the series prior so we’re used to getting hit i mean we And then specifically we got beat 8-1 in the final last year right like that that was real i don’t think there was a bad goal in there either um so you just kind of get used to it get beat up a little bit wake up in the morning you don’t feel great this is easy for me i wear a suit so I’m fine the next morning but for the guys who play on both teams you just get used to it left side third row two two quick things I just wanted to know you had that great you know emotional win in game two do you wish you were playing tonight with the extra travel day and then the second thing is um just really quickly is the complexion of the series i mean you’re one shot away from potentially having to win four or five to win the cup and now you have home ice advantage from a coaching standpoint how much has the whole course of this series maybe turned on that win not nearly as ex and when I’m going to say this to you David I’m not saying that your perception is wrong i’m just telling you my experience and I’ll I’ll speak for the Evan others even though I have no right to speak for them it won’t be as emotional in the room as it is outside the room so it wasn’t as devastating after game one it’s 3-3 it wasn’t as euphoric after game two both teams will take the two days gladly uh and not have there aren’t as many edges as you might think well if they had played the next day only get a day’s rest or they fly in the day those are minor factors that we’ll look back on and say if whoever won won because of that whoever lost but I don’t think any of that’s true this is so close out there so you can take a look at that video and I can find you 15 goals for the Edmonton Oilers just didn’t go and I can find you the exact same for the Florida Panthers and the all the factors that we talk about which are interesting to talk about and they’re interesting in between days i don’t I just don’t think that they play they’re not an excuse they just be a factor so the two days off are great for both teams we’ll take two more questions right side fourth row uh Paul just uh you know a couple years ago I’m watching Lucan and and you know pretty good little player and and now I’m watching I rewatched yesterday’s game and and he almost seems like your defensive forsling up front um how has he that’s good like you know like even even the tying goal uh like he couldn’t have done much more unless he chopped Perry’s stick out of his hand so how have you seen his evolution you wouldn’t do that yeah I know um how have you seen his evolution the last three years okay so for the words you said are important you said he was a good little player and I got on the elevator with him up there and I looked up he’s a big man now like he’s And that’s what I noticed holy lucy you’re taller than I thought you were um but the Forsling up front that’s really good really good because what you haven’t seen in the playoffs as much but Gustaf Forsling had some great offensive numbers this year and never got a sniff on the power play right so Lorster Rin and we felt that Lundell and Looster Rinan that there was more offense there but truly respected the fact that they never cheat for it that if we could add up a guy and that’s why Brad has been so good so that Brad’s kind of training if you would with Patrice Berseron a player that never cheated the game that’s the way he knows how to play the game and so he fits perfectly with those two guys they’re they’re going to do the right thing as hard as they can they’re very clean players we have them and and that’s why that’s such a great fit but there is offense there and Brad’s been able to bring that out of those two and so we talk about Lundell because he’s got some really good numbers but Lucyan as well i I think Lundy had about 18 his first year but I think L Yeah anyway it’s there for them they just sometimes you need the right kind of veteran piece to bring it out that was good by the way well done take one more left side second row the ball um you talk it sounds like you’re pretty happy with you know the way your team’s executing your system and as a coach you like what you see uh but we’re watching 4-3 hockey we’re watching 54 hockey there was there was a time when we would say “Oh boy the coaches don’t like this.” I remember Daryl Sutter telling me “I got to have a 925 out of my goal it’s not good enough.” Okay that’s fair like that’s a really good point because I don’t think either teams played poor defensively at all like I’m I’m with that idea we the 2-1 game like that’s more of what we’re accustomed to that’s we’re a defensive bent team but you can watch the game and you know if your team’s playing as hard as it can defensively or if it’s mentally right um and I think both teams are i don’t think either and the goalending has been good like like really good if you I know sometimes you look at the goals four and a to decide how well a goalie played but if you just skewed the top 15 chances for an which is a big number right like a chances oh my god they’ve made saves so how is that possible you got a coach and I’m telling you the truth i haven’t shown a lot of defensive video and that’s almost all I show almost all year but I’m looking for it and there’s places that we got to get better for sure but but we’re not at there’s a places we hope to get better might be a better way to put it both teams are competing defensively they’re blocking shots they’re battling they’re backing and it’s still a high event game that’s some high-end skill so are we in a better place is the game in a better place than when that that same result used to give us a 2-1 game back in 2011 uh now it’s giving us a 5-4 game are we happy with that absolutely because then you always have hope i’m talking about as a fan if we get back to the two there’s nothing casual about the way that that’s been this is defended and and part of it is neither team passively defends they’re not going to give you a whole bunch of ice sit back wait spit it down like when we’re icing the puck we’re not trying to ice the puck right same with them there’s been a bunch of that we’re trying to connect on something so if you’re a fan and your team is down 2-1 and you’ve lost all hope 10 minutes into the first period that’s not much of a sport but if you’re in Edmonton in game two you’re sticking around if you left with 19 seconds left you left early right that for sure is good for sure the the defensive compete on both teams has been outstanding like this this is very competitive hardworking hard-hitting grinding it’s why there is more consternation perhaps about what could be a call and what couldn’t be a call because it’s happening every 10 seconds instead of three times a period this is being it is being competed at a high level contested is the word I was looking for everything is contested all over the ice so you’re having more events and it’s more intense but what a wonderful thing to be able to say that in the final instead of the first round these men are going that hard it’s It’s awesome

Florida Panthers coach Paul Maurice meets the media on his team’s practice day before Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final at the Fort Lauderdale IcePlex on Sunday, June 8, 2025.

Brad Marchand scored twice — once on a shorthanded goal in the second, then the game-winner at 8:05 of 2OT — to help lead the Panthers to a 5-4 win in Game 2 on Friday.

Florida, which is in the Cup Final for the third straight year, are 9-3 in road playoff games this season.

The defending champs tied the series at 1.

Game 3 of the Cup Final is Monday in Sunrise at 8 (TNT).

The Panthers Are Back in the Cup Final: https://floridahockeynow.com/florida-panthers-5-carolina-hurricanes-3-game-5-ecf-may-28-2025-back-to-stanley-cup-final/

How Brad Marchand Joined the Florida Panthers: https://floridahockeynow.com/brad-marchand-joins-florida-panthers-how-it-happened-nhl-trade-bruins/

2024 Stanley Cup Champions Honored at the White House: https://floridahockeynow.com/stanley-cup-champion-florida-panthers-honored-at-white-house/

Florida Panthers, Tampa Bay Lightning Bringing Hockey Outdoors – In Florida: https://floridahockeynow.com/nhl-outdoor-hockey-miami-tampa-florida-panthers-lightning/

The Florida Panthers Get Their Rings. They’re Spectacular: https://floridahockeynow.com/florida-panthers-get-stanley-cup-championship-rings-theyre-spectacular/

The Florida Panthers Are Stanley Cup Champions: https://floridahockeynow.com/can-you-believe-it-florida-panthers-are-stanley-cup-champs/

Friday, the Panthers led 1-0 on Sam Bennett’s 12th road goal — and NHL record — of the playoffs.

Edmonton led 2-1 when Seth Jones scored; in the second, Florida trailed 3-2 before Dmitry Kulikov tied it. Marchand gave the Panthers a 4-3 lead with his first shorty in the Finals since beating Roberto Luongo in 2011.

Sergei Bobrovsky made 42 saves for the second straight game.

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Video Courtesy Florida Panthers / Panthers Vision