Paul Maurice did not mince words when asked how his Florida Panthers played Tuesday night against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
“We started slow,’’ he said, “and found a way to get slower.’’
Yeah the Panthers did not seem to have much jump in their skates on this night.
Toronto held the Panthers to four shots on goal in the opening period and scored with just 24 seconds left for a lead at the break.
The Maple Leafs then scored two more goals in the first 4:01 of the second period and pulled out a 4-1 win.
“I didn’t like our game tonight,’’ Maurice said. “At all.’’
The Panthers all but limped into the second half of the season.
Limped being the operative word.
Florida has been losing players since training camp.
The Panthers knew they would be without Matthew Tkachuk until about this point of the season after he had surgery to repair a sports hernia and a torn adductor.
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But they certainly did not count on losing the likes of Sasha Barkov, Dmitry Kulikov, Jonah Gadjovich, and Tomas Nosek for much if not all of the season.
Cole Schwindt, claimed off waivers before the season started, has been out a big part of the year as well after colliding with Sergei Bobrovsky during a game.
The way things are going, the Panthers had to feel blessed Bobrovsky was not hurt.
On Tuesday, Brad Marchand left the game early after things started to look like they were going to take a turn to a more physical style with Maurice saying it was simply precautionary.
With the amount of injuries Florida has sustained — oh yeah, Seth Jones is out now, too — few could blame Maurice for pulling the plug on Marchand during the second intermission Tuesday.
“We are a little sensitive when it comes to injuries here,’’ Maurice said, “and we have to do our best to keep guys healthy.
“That was a coach’s decision.’’
The Panthers are now at 233 man-games lost due to injury.
That’s quite a bit.
Florida should be getting Tkachuk and Schwindt back soon enough, with the hope that Jones is only out a few weeks.
The Panthers may have to put him on LTIR, however temporarily, to borrow his cap hit to allow Tkachuk to play — which would mean Jones would miss 10 games and 24 days. He’s already at two and five.
Regardless of the cap gymnastics, the Panthers are happy just to get some good news on the injury front.
After beating the Colorado Avalanche 2-1 on Sunday, the Panthers were feeling pretty good about themselves.
Tuesday night in Toronto, the mood was a touch different.
“If you would have asked me six hours ago, I was in a pretty good mood,’’ Maurice said when asked about his team’s first half.
“That’s the way this is: We have a standard. Some nights we meet it, some nights we fall a little short like tonight’s game. For the most part, for all we have gone through, I am happy with what they have been able to do, staying in the fight.”
Maurice did bring up his first season with the Panthers where his team was left for dead before rallying and slipping into the playoffs as the No. 8 seed in the east.
As he has mentioned before this season, that 2022-23 team did not have the injury problems this one does.
“We are in a hell of a lot better shape than we were in January [2023], and we still found a way to get into the Final,’’ Maurice said. “But that means nothing because that was four [seasons] ago. We’re on that dangerous ground of injury where that number creeps to eight or nine [players out], you got a problem.
“But we’re still going to stay in the fight.’’
ON DECK: GAME No. 43
FLORIDA PANTHERS at MONTREAL CANADIENS
