Paul Maurice, Panthers Postgame: Florida Gets Big Return from Marchand, Beat Dallas Stars
Well, coach, given the emotional week that Brad Marian has had, what can you say of his performance in tonight’s game? Uh, that’s a tough week he went through and you he hit the ice this morning for the first time in a week and then he is uh he’s something I mean to be able to to play the way he did, but he’s he’s just so impactful on every game. Scores the first one. Um, and then of course the the game winner for us. So special guy. Sam Reinhardt, 300 career goals. You always talk about his hockey IQ. Yeah, saw it on that play there, but just what makes him such a special goal scorer. Um, his shot is really underrated. I know, but just the quickness to be able to get the right angle on it, but he he changes his shot. Sometimes they’re heater, sometimes he picks a spot. Um, I mean, he’s got fantastic eyes. He sees the game very well, but he he picks the spots. How’ you like that game tonight? A little gritty kind of game. No, I thought I thought in the things that we’re trying to get better at, we were much better at. I think we’re at about six and a half minutes of offensive zone time, and that would be our best number of the year. We still got lots of work to do, but but we saw some pieces. We got more sustained pressure. Shot selection we got to work on a little bit. But I think we passed up clearly some ones that we should have shot. But at the same time, uh, there were some plays there. But we’ve spent some time here in the last week and a half kind of going back to the prior to the Pittsburgh game, but into the Pittsburgh game where our offensive game has has needed a push because things aren’t going like we’re probably I think we’re about 31st or 32nd in the league for actual to expected. It’s just not going. Um, and that’s fine, but there’s some things we can work on with that and we have and we’re starting to see it. So hopefully that’ll be the start of a push for us to start putting some more pucks in the net. Sorry. And Sam Bennett obviously off to a rough start. He goes to the net and is able to cash in. But Sam Sam is also, you know, had had his career year in in a year where he had two months where the puck didn’t go for him as well. So the defensive parts of his game are right. He’s he’s got um you know, he’s not a lot of experience and goal scoring on his line with him right now. You just need him to hold water a little bit above that and um and and he’ll be game he’s fine. His game is actually better than the stats tell you it is. I mean the min he’s got four empty netters on him hanging on that minus. So but doesn’t matter. He’s a very proud man and he works really hard. He needs the puck to go in for him. So we’re we’re taking that one for sure. To go back to for a second. He refame interview that sometimes the hockey just sort of do what they got to do. You’ve been around this game a long time. How much of a factor is that sometimes that when a guy goes through something like this? I do believe I do believe you get the appropriate perspective shift uh when you deal with something outside of the game that’s clearly more important than the game. And and it’s not a it’s not a fault of the game. It’s that pro sports is very intense and it’s every single day and you become myopic in that and you almost have to be to be a performer like he is and you lose sight of the things in the world that that other people go through and until it touches you. So he he got fully immersed in that. I and I’d like to think and you hope and you see him players they come back and they put their skates on and get back on the ice becomes a fun place for them again. Uh Brad Gates he seems to be having fun every time he’s on the ice but I I do believe that that that perspective is good. it and it’s as much as when we do and we do an awful lot of hospital visits here as much as it is it is for the kids and it is that’s the driver of it there’s also a really good gift back from those kids when we go to those things um because the perspective is is put squarely in the right place on the ice Marian seems to have picked right up where he left off in the postseason just all every game it see he’s a factor somehow he’s um So what you would expect then maybe looking at it he had all those years of playing with Patrice Berseron but had figured out how to play with them right so there’s this great balance there Selki award winner and you know the Salazin’s points are coming so there’s both and he has that with Lucan and Lundell I’m not comparing Lendell yet to Berseron I think five or six SI awards so but he has the ability to figure out who he’s playing with and and and how to play the game off them. Thoughts on Sbrango’s give you Oh, I liked it. It was predictable. It was hard. It was fast. He looked confident. I didn’t think that he uh chunked any pucks cuz he was nervous. I didn’t I didn’t think he tried to force anything anybody. He looked like a guy with a really clean understanding of what his game is and just showed it quietly in some ways. Skated well, not afraid to throw the body. I like this game. The last minute of overtime. That’s serving him back there for a little. It was like that. That is almost really good example of what Sergey is great at now and has to be because long stretches of that was just regroups, right? There’s nothing going on and then then it comes and you know I think they tied the game on their 17th shot. That’s what he’s been getting here too. There’s stretches where there’s not much going on and then you get the two power plays or he has to make one or two really big saves. There’s a mental there’s an experience and a mental toughness that goes that to be good at that. And just that chemistry between Lendell Lin and Marian just that they’ve been springing that breakaway now at least. Yeah, it it happened uh it happened almost instantaneously. I mean I think we played him Marier around because we had had some injuries but the idea was he was eventually going to go with those two guys and then as soon as he did there’s something there for sure. Thank you coach. Thank you.
Florida Panthers coach Paul Maurice speaks after his team beat the Dallas Stars 4-3 in a shootout on Nov. 1, 2025 in Sunrise.
Brad Marchand scored the opening goal then scored the lone shootout marker in his return after taking a leave from the team.
Sam Reinhart got his 300th NHL goal, and Sam Bennett gave Florida a lead in the third. Sergei Bobrovsky made 19 saves in the win and went 3-for-3 in the shootout.
The Panthers Have Done It Again, Repeat as Cup Champs: https://floridahockeynow.com/florida-panthers-repeat-stanley-cup-champions-2025/
Panthers Get Their New Rings. Yeah, They Nice: https://floridahockeynow.com/stanley-cup-champion-florida-panthers-get-rings-yeah-they-nice/
Florida Panthers, Tampa Bay Lightning Bringing Hockey Outdoors – In Florida: https://floridahockeynow.com/nhl-outdoor-hockey-miami-tampa-florida-panthers-lightning/
For the most in-depth coverage of the Florida Panthers:
— Visit Florida Hockey Now — https://floridahockeynow.com
— Subscribe to Florida Hockey Now: https://floridahockeynow.com/membership-account/subscribe-to-fhn/
— Like Our Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/flahockeynow/
— On Bluesky:
* https://bsky.app/profile/georgerichards.bsky.social
—Follow us on Twitter:
* https://twitter.com/GeorgeRichards
* https://twitter.com/thegovman
Video Courtesy Florida Panthers / Panther Vision
2 comments
Thank you Don Sweeney for thinking Marchy didn’t have anything left in the tank and trading him to the Panthers.
As much as I hated losing Marchy it's great to see him thriving in a system that works.