Paul Maurice Keeps Word, Stays Off Postgame Handshake Line. Again

A few days after his Florida Panthers beat the Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round of the playoffs, Paul Maurice said coaches should stay away from the handshake line at the end of a series.

“I think it should be on the players,” Maurice said. “They’re the guys who win, lose, suffer, go through the pain, fight for their teammates, take hits, do the real work.

“We just drink coffee and swear. That’s basically what I do.”

After causing quite a stir after making those comments, Maurice stuck to them.

When the final horn sounded on Florida’s 6-1 win over the Maple Leafs in Game 7 of Round 2, Maurice came off the bench and shook hands with Toronto coach Craig Berube and his staff.

And that was it.

Maurice stuck to it when the Panthers beat the Carolina Hurricanes in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals as well.

Instead of joining the line, he shared a few moments with his former captain and current Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour off to the side.

“When this whole thing started, and I don’t know when it changed, probably in the past 10 years, but the coaches would come off the bench, shake hands, and then they would leave,” Maurice said a few weeks ago.

“Somewhere, some coach wanted to get on camera, got down there, and got in the line. Now, if you don’t, you get roasted for it, being disrespectful. So, you’ve got to go and shake a bunch of sweaty dudes’ hands.

“But you wear a suit to the game. For those guys, the battle is real. The intensity is real, the meanness. You have two guys crossing paths who had been trying to do harm to each other for somewhere between four and seven games.

“That handshake is legitimate, and it’s real. And that’s a part of the great story of our game that they can do that.”

On Sunday night, the Panthers and Maple Leafs went through the time-honored ritual of shaking hands.

A number of Toronto players took time to talk with Brad Marchand — who is now 5-0 against the Leafs in Game 7s — with Florida players stopping for a moment to talk with former teammates Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Steven Lorentz, and Anthony Stolarz.

Sergei Bobrovsky and Stolarz appeared to have a nice conversation, with Bobrovsky giving his former backup a warm wink.

2025 STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS

EASTERN CONFERENCE FINAL: GAME 1

FLORIDA PANTHERS @ CAROLINA HURRICANES

Best-of-7 Series

• When: Tuesday, 8 p.m. 
• Where: Lenovo Arena; Raleigh, N.C. 
• National TV: TNT/truTV
• National Streaming: Max
• Radio: WQAM 560-AM; WPOW 96.5-FM2; WBZT 1230-AM (Palm Beach); WCTH 100.3-FM (Florida Keys); SiriusXM
• Panthers Radio Streaming: SiriusXM 932, NHL App
• Series Schedule (all games on TNT/tru) — Game 1: Tuesday @Carolina, 8; Game 2: Thursday @Carolina, 8; Game 3:Saturday @Florida, 8; Game 4: Monday, May 26 @Florida, 8; Game 5*: Wednesday, May 28 @Carolina, 8; Game 6*: Friday, May 30 @Florida, 8; Game 7*: Sunday, June 1 @Carolina, 8
• This Regular Season (Panthers Won 2-1) — At Florida:Panthers 6, Hurricanes 0 (Nov.30); Hurricanes 3, Panthers 1 (Jan. 2). At Carolina: Panthers 6, Hurricanes 3 (Nov. 29).
• How They Got Here: Carolina d. New Jersey (5), Washington (5); Florida d. Tampa Bay (5), Toronto (7).
• All-Time Regular Season Series: Carolina/Hartford leads 74-49-10, 11 ties
• Postseason History: Florida 1-0 (2023 ECF in 4)