Paul Maurice, Panthers Postgame: Florida 3, New York Rangers 2 OT (Game 4, ECF)

Paul Maurice, Panthers Postgame: Florida 3, New York Rangers 2 OT (Game 4, ECF)

have Paul Maurice we’ll start front right with Jameson well coach you guys kind of spent a whole season perfecting that play with Ryan harks what did it mean for it to work and come up in such a big moment in the playoffs like that it was what as well executed as you can and their pressure was brilliant but there wasn’t a mistake there it was just two really good teams we made the play had a version of it earlier in the game and we didn’t connect on it and um I think I think you know the second and third period kind of got got us to an emotional level where you’re just playing and it’s as fast as you can I think that’s what we saw there that was just a bunch of elite guys with phenomenal hands left side second row yeah coach what led to after the first period what led to you guys getting to that level and and when Sam Bennett’s first goal went in just the importance of seeing one get through what did that do for you guys I mean the truth is I don’t know if I did we would have done it at the first I thought we were tight that that’s the best way I could describe it like you know I mean old teams wanted so bad have invested so much hard work to get there I just thought we were tight and then after the first we just played it wasn’t more coaching it would be less and it just I thought I don’t have a better explanation for it I’m I’m not I don’t I don’t think i’ wind them up hard before a game and you never know what your impact is but I just that was my conversation after the first as I thought we were tight and we don’t play that way back left what’s going through your mind on the wheeler penalty are you thinking penalty shot are you hoping penalty shot I’m just not sure I want to answer that question because I want to tell you the truth I would say I got a pretty good idea after game that the math on it is dead even like I think our power play percentage is about 33.3 which is exactly about seen a bunch of breakaways not go in I don’t maybe the truth is I I don’t know if you asked me I got to pick one which one I would pick if we hadn’t scored had a shot all day long that’s just the truth I I don’t know because it all went through my head front right to be clear you would pick PowerPoint now pretty sure that’s the way we go that’s 90% of coaching is revisionist history I knew this was going to happen that’s why I put that guy on the ice how much this kind of goes back to your first answer but forget the circumstances and the stakes and game four and down 21 and all that how much do you find yourself just enjoying what that third period was was when it’s just end to end and both goalies are just doing ridiculous things and how much do you find yourself having fun in that moment if that’s even possible it is but there’s a qualifier to it you don’t have to be winning you don’t have to be dominating but you have to be kind of playing the way you’ve prepared your team to play if you’ve if you’ve done your job we should look a certain way I mean Conference Final against the president’s trophy team so you’re not owning that game or or all of it or chunks of it but you if you get if we’re playing the game the way we feel we should look then I enjoy the hell out of it right and then you because in your own brain then you’re not looking for a solution to a problem they’re on us whatever we’re not breaking the pck out we can’t get it deep whatever it is so if you’re not looking the way you look you AR enjoying it because you’ve got problems that you haven’t solved and that’s your job then after that yeah I mean they’re going to do good things they got such great hands so great speed but we’re playing as hard as we can the bench is right the mood is right we’re just now we’re just playing hockey and they enjoy the hell out of it it’s the best best part of your year front left mik Paul but but how in those sit that situation through period are you not thinking here we go again like it was so reminiscent of the third period the other night where you I mean they went 13 minutes without a shot him tonight you just don’t like yourself because the last game was the last game we we like the way we had played for big chunks of the last game and we’re right you just you because last year we went as hard as we could every game and we didn’t win I got no problem with that there wasn’t anything left for us to do I would say for a big chunk of the games that we played in our last two they played as hard as they possibly can they stuck together they cared for each other they treated each other right each one of them took the lead at a different time or a different play so the result will be the result there’s nothing left to do take a few more questions front left George you now have a best of three uh you you’ve talked about you’d be happy going into game seven overtime whatever but did you think this series would be as close as it would be even game one the one you got three nothing was one nothing yeah going into third I think we hoped I gu you know you’re you’re you don’t start at home for a reason they finished ahead of you um have an elite team so you know that if you play really well and really hard you got a chance and for the most part it’s going to look even I think it’s phenomenal hockey and I can say that I mean if you’re up 3 nothing that’s easy for the coach to say but it’s 2 two it’s tight there’s great saves at both ends there’s incredible skill incredible speed there’s physicality to it but it’s also been a really disciplined series there haven’t been the blowups like for the new people to the series is not overly physical like our our our Boston series was mean and and and and disciplin but means so it’s just a really really two really good teams you can tell they got good leadership they’ve got great skill and it’s 22 so benefactor is that both teams are at least going to play six games and if you’re a fan of hockey you’re going to get entertained take two more questions front left did you say two more questions I’m not doing any math up here and I thought you were going to double the two part I got you tomorrow but you didn’t I got youor Paul there’s been a lot of goals in the series that have come right off Zone starts whether it’s ozone or dzone and you’ve got a couple guys particularly tonight Sam Reinhardt Steven Len were lights out in the faceof circle just about the importance of having different a lot of guys on your roster that can step in and really win you a lot of draws and list Ryan uh had put some big numbers and so is is a tro has been just dominant in the circle so you need a bunch of people there weren’t as many um and I appreciate this but there weren’t as many centerman kicked out tonight the linesmen did a brilliant job of managing and I know there was no there wasn’t cheating or anything it was it was just really well done by the officials um and then you it’s it’s critical now I don’t know I don’t know how true this is but I’ve been told Enough by analytics the face offs don’t correlate very well to winning it’s not a it’s not a stat that can tell you who’s going to win the game games except when you lose the draw in game three it can correlate to winning pretty quickly on you having people that you trust on the strong and weak side is very important last question back right I know you’ve gone to the Veri barov uh line a little bit and putting them together why are they so good and what did you see out of them to generate their goal tonight well the elements of the line is we have extreme speed and an incredible quick shot in Veri you have all of the things that go into a 57 goal man in the regular season all he scored in the playoffs and he’s a penalty killer it’s very unusual and then the barkoff effect and none of us have enough time here tonight for me to go through that so you have unusual men in all three positions thank you

Florida Panthers coach Paul Maurice speaks after his team pulled out a 3-2 overtime win against the visiting New York Rangers in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference final on Tuesday, May 28, 2024, in Sunrise.

The best-of-7 series is tied 2-2; Game 5 is at Madison Square Garden on Thursday at 8 (ESPN).

Reinhart Gets Another OT Goal, Ties Series: https://floridahockeynow.com/florida-panthers-3-new-york-rangers-2-ot-reinhart-winner-ecf/

Sour Florida Panthers Know Today is a New Day: https://floridahockeynow.com/florida-panthers-sour-after-game-3-loss-todays-a-new-day/

The Panthers Have an Igor Shesterkin Problem: https://floridahockeynow.com/igor-shesterkin-is-a-big-problem-for-the-florida-panthers/

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On Tuesday, Florida trailed 1-0 going into the second but got goals from Sam Bennett and Carter Verhaeghe to take a lead into the third.

New York tied it in the third — but Sam Reinhart won it 1:12 into overtime.

Sergei Bobrovsky had 21 saves in the win.

New York had been 4-0 in OT games this postseason — including the past two wins against the Panthers.

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