Florida Panthers
Paul Maurice Makes Sure Florida Panthers Know Effort was Appreciated
In the closing seconds of their win Saturday night, Florida Panthers coach Paul Maurice walked the bench patting each player on the back.
In the aftermath of Friday’s 9-1 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes, Maurice told anyone who would listen that his team would bring it against the Washington Capitals.
The Panthers cashed the check Maurice wrote for them on Saturday, dominating the first period and scoring the final four goals of the night in a 5-2 win.
Florida now has 14 wins following a loss, second-most in the entire NHL.
Maurice’s faith in his team was certainly rewarded.
“It’s a hard thing we went through for 48 hours,’’ Maurice said after the injury-riddled Panthers finished their six-game road trip 3-3 with wins in three of the final four.
“Back to backs aren’t easy in this league, and we’re playing a team fighting for its playoff lives as you do. I’ve run the top end really hard, we had a tough night emotionally. But they handled it, we came out right with a really strong first period and it was a battle the rest of the way through.
“I wanted them to recognize that what they did tonight wasn’t easy, and they shoudl enjoy it because they played hard in a tough situation.”
The Panthers came out flying in the first period yet only scored once, taking a 1-0 lead into the second on a nice hustle goal from A.J. Greer.
As Maurice alluded to both after Friday’s loss and before Saturday’s game, the Panthers came out to play.
Florida found itself on the wrong side of the score in the second on a pair of goals by Boca’s Jakob Chychrun — but Sam Bennett and Uvis Balinskis both scored and Florida led 3-2 going into the third.
“Great response when we went down a goal, we just struck with it and did a great job,” Greer said. “[Tarasov] was unbelievable and our defense moved the puck well. We had a ton of shots, a ton of opportunity.”
The Panthers dominated play again in the third, but again, goals were hard to come by.
A pair of empty-netters from Anton Lundell and Carter Verhaeghe let Maurice and the Panthers breathe a little easier.
With the win, the Panthers at least kept pace in the playoff race.
Florida comes home to face the San Jose Sharks four points back of the Buffalo Sabres for the final wild card spot with two games in hand.
“Obviously no one is happy with the way things went [Friday] night,” Bennett said. “This is a good character group in this locker room and it shows that we care. We showed up today. It was just a solid, all-around game from everyone.”
ON DECK: GAME No. 48
SAN JOSE SHARKS at FLORIDA PANTHERS
- When: Monday, 6 p.m.
- Where: Amerant Bank Arena, Sunrise
- Local TV: Scripps Sports — WSFL 39 (Miami/FtL); WHDT 9 (WPB); LAFF 36.3 (SWFla)
- Streaming: Panthers+, ESPN+
- Radio: WQAM 560; WBZT 1230-AM (Palm Beach); WCTH 100.3-FM (Florida Keys); SiriusXM
- Panthers Radio Streaming: SiriusXM 932, NHL App
- Last Season: Florida won 2-0
- This Season (Sharks Lead 1-0) — At Florida: Monday. At San Jose: Sharks 3, Panthers 1 (Nov. 8)
- All-time Regular Season Series: Florida leads 25-14-1, 7 ties
- Up Next for the Panthers: Thursday at Winnipeg Jets, 8 p.m.
