Latest news with #Maurice
USA Today
6 hours ago
- Sport
- USA Today
Mic'd up Panthers coach shares NSFW message before final Stanley Cup shift
A post shared by NHL (@nhl) Fourth liners in the NHL don't get a ton of love. Despite being incredibly talented players in their own right, the guys at the end of the bench are typically forced into playing a much grittier game than their teammates. While the top two lines are focused on scoring — and the third line is typically comprised of a team's best defenders — fourth liners are out there to cause chaos, give the top guys a breather and find ways to change the momentum. Panthers Damage Stanley Cup: Trophy to undergo repairs before Panthers parade It's an incredibly tough, rarely rewarding job. Unless you play for Florida Panthers head coach Paul Maurice. As the clock was ticking down in the Panthers' Stanley Cup-clinching Game 6 blowout, Maurice gathered his fourth line and told them to hit the ice with perfectly profane pump-up speech. Warning: NSFW Language Paul Maurice wanted his last line to be the first to be the first to celebrate winning a championship. That's some excellent leadership there — and a perfect incentive for any fourth liner out there to gleefully take on one of hockey's toughest jobs.
Miami Herald
11 hours ago
- Sport
- Miami Herald
In their own words, Panthers explain their ‘utmost respect' for Paul Maurice
Paul Maurice does what he can to deflect the credit. As he leads the Florida Panthers on the most triumphant run in franchise history — three Stanley Cup Final appearances and back-to-back championships in his first three years at the helm — Maurice insists it's not primarily his doing. Any success the Panthers have should be directly toward the players. 'They do the real work,' Maurice said. 'We just drink coffee and swear.' But Maurice does so much more than that even if he doesn't want to admit it. He's the selfless leader with more than three decades of coaching experience. He's the wise coach who seems to know exactly what to say and when to say it and how to say it. He's the architect of the defensive structure that makes opponents hate to play against them and finally had Florida in position to thrive in the playoffs. And now, Maurice is a two-time Stanley Cup champion after going his entire career — which included stops with the Hartford Whalers/Carolina Hurricanes (twice), Toronto Maple Leafs and Winnipeg Jets before joining Florida — wondering if he'd ever win it once. He became just the third head coach the expansion era (since the 1967-68 season) to win multiple Stanley Cups in his first three seasons with a team, joining Pittsburgh's Mike Sullivan (2016 and 2017) and Los Angeles' Darryl Sutter (2012 and 2014). 'He really has control of this team,' said Panthers center Sam Bennett, who won the Conn Smythe as playoffs MVP after scoring 15 goals throughout the postseason and is a player Maurice regularly points out as the identity of the team. 'The team's really just bought into the culture that he's implemented into this team, and we're all willing to do whatever it takes and play that hard style that he keeps preaching to us night in and night out and we've all just bought into that over the years.' Why is that? Maurice says it starts with honesty and directness. 'If you walk into the room and you just tell the truth, whether they want to hear it or not but it's the truth, and over time you could look back and say, 'What that person told me was the truth,' you'll have respect for that,' said Maurice, who signed a five-year contract extension early in the season to remain as the team's head coach. 'So, I work hard at trying to find the truth every day and then just telling it as simply as I can with the occasional joke slipped in. Most times I'm the only one that thinks it's funny.' And through it all, through the turnaround (both for himself and the franchise) and through the winning, Maurice has remained wholly himself. 'I don't think he's changed since winning,' Bennett said. 'He's the same. He can be hard on us. He's hard on us when he needs to be, and then he's relaxed with us when he knows that we need to, so I think he really does have a good feel for what our team needs. We all have the utmost respect for him.' That's clear based on almost anyone you talk to. In their own words, here's what various members of the Panthers organization had to say about Maurice: ▪ Star winger Matthew Tkachuk: 'He keeps things light, but he expects us to work our hardest and he's very prepared and — I know I've said this before — he can get you up for a Tuesday night game against Columbus or whatever in the middle of the year and it feels like a playoff game. His speeches and his ability to get us to run through a wall each and every game is a big gift. 'He gets the buy-in from the players and he treats all of us the same, which I think is really important as a coach and not to treat guys differently. He expects us all to work hard and treat each other with respect and everything, but he treats us all the exact same. He's been a great coach and we're super lucky to have him here.' ▪ President of hockey operations and general manager Bill Zito: 'He's a very bright man. He's a teacher. He's a coach. He'll push, he'll pull, he'll harp. But you don't want to disappoint him. His character is so high that, working with him, he makes you want to be better because you don't want to disappoint him.' ▪ Defenseman Seth Jones, who joined the Panthers at the trade deadline in March: 'He doesn't change at all. I think ever since the first day I came in here, the first meeting I had with him, he was very direct. He knows what he wants you to do. He gives you your role. He knows how the team plays, how he wants you to play, your strengths, your weaknesses and so on. So he's great in front of the team. Knows when to keep it light, when to joke around, when to be serious. He's got a great temperature on the room, and in the playoffs, we're a team that we don't dwell on wins, we don't dwell on losses we live in the moment game by game, and he does a great job of that. It's always moving forward. It's always how can we get better? And that's really the main thing, and the impressive thing. 'It's different than what I've had. I think he knows how to really take the temperature of the group and the situation of the group. And he can have a meeting where he's very intense, calling guys out or calling the team out. But he's also very good at throwing a joke in there, throwing a funny clip in there when we're doing video. He's very smart. I think he understands what the team needs at any given time. I don't think he gets too high or too low based on certain situations.' ▪ Forward Carter Verhaeghe: 'He's one of a kind. We see his sense of humor with you guys and everything like that, and he kind of has the same sense of humor with us. He keeps everything light, but makes you want to work; and for the right reasons, for each other. At any given time, he knows what the group needs, whether it's a clip of [Niko Mikkola] doing something on the ice on video or something like that. So it keeps us loose and focused at the same time, which is good.' ▪ Panthers president and CEO Matt Caldwell: 'Paul is obviously an absolute professional, well respected, inspirational leader. He's got a great working relationship with Bill Zito. The three of us have a great, great relationship, and obviously the team success has been phenomenal, but the culture that's been built, you can tell how much the players love playing for him. Sam Bennett was just recently talking about how much the players respect their coach, and appreciate this destination franchise that we have. I've learned a lot while watching him. 'He's got a very cool, calm demeanor. He sticks to his process. He communicates really well. He doesn't get too high, doesn't get too low. He's a great teacher, but I just think his ability — you could see from the team, like we're a very resilient team, and we respond to anything that happens on and off the ice. Watching him, he knows when he's got to keep people accountable. He knows when he has to correct people, but he also knows when he's got to be patient and communicate and teach more. So just his balance of managing all the emotions of the game and the long season is very inspirational to watch.' ▪ Defenseman Gustav Forsling: 'He's got a great hockey mind, but he's very smart and he sees the game very well. Just a great guy overall. He's a great human being. That's one thing that really stood out to me, how good of a human he is and that he really cares.' ▪ Forward Brad Marchand: 'He's very good at getting his messaging across, relaying what style of game that we need to play. He does a great job at making changes throughout series and throughout games and then just the way he makes you feel the passion that he obviously has. He's just one of those people that knows how to bring the best out of every player.' ▪ Defenseman Nate Schmidt, who briefly played for Maurice in Winnipeg: 'They give you a blueprint of how he wants you to play, and he molds that around your strengths as a player and he doesn't ask you to do more than what you should be doing. It's not the easiest system just to jump into, but he expects a certain level out of each guy and if you give that to him, there's no problem. And that's something that I find it was freeing for me, and once you kind of settle into how he wants you to play and into what kind of role he wants you to be in, it takes a lot of the pressure off.'
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Stanley Cup Final: Florida Panthers, Matthew Tkachuk can repeat with 1 more win vs. Edmonton
FORT LAUDERDALE — The playoffs were about to begin, and among the many reasons Paul Maurice had to feel good about his Florida Panthers was the one variable coaches can't control. 'We were healthy,' Maurice said. Advertisement Check that. 'Matthew was the only question mark,' he said. Forward Matthew Tkachuk, it turns out, was a bigger question mark than some thought. He suffered a groin injury in the Four Nations Face-Off that ended his regular season in February — but revealed on the eve of Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final against the visiting Edmonton Oilers just how close he came to not being available at least when the playoffs began. 'I did not think I was going to be playing,' Tkachuk said before correcting himself. 'I shouldn't say that. I thought there was maybe a 50 percent chance I wouldn't be playing as close to about a week or five days before the playoffs.' Matthew Tkachuk on hot line with Sam Bennett and Evan Rodrigues Jun 12, 2025; Sunrise, Florida, USA; Florida Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk (19) celebrates scoring during the first period against the Edmonton Oilers in game four of the 2025 Stanley Cup Final at Amerant Bank Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jim Rassol-Imagn Images If the Panthers clinch their second consecutive Stanley Cup with a victory, it would not be because Tkachuk played a minor role. Tkachuk has two goals and three assists in the past three games, playing on a red-hot line with Sam Bennett, who leads the NHL in playoff goals with 15, and Evan Rodrigues (15 points). Tkachuk and Bennett are tied for fourth in postseason scoring with 22 points in 22 games. Advertisement Of course with Tkachuk it's more than statistics. He's a big part of the heart and soul of the Panthers. He gets under opponents' skin with his spunk. Spunk is what it took for Tkachuk to get back to form. He was limited to less than 12 minutes in his first game back, in the playoffs vs. Tampa Bay. 'Nowhere close to what I expected out of myself,' Tkachuk said. 'Because he played the game with a broken collarbone,' Maurice said. Although Tkachuk had two goals and one assist in that 6-2 victory, Maurice figures it wasn't until the second and third rounds, against Toronto and Carolina, that Tkachuk was Tkachuk. Advertisement 'He had come to full health but there's still the mental part about how far do you want to stress that, taking hits and giving hits and things like that,' Maurice said. Panthers have had mixed luck with close-out games Close-out games like this haven't been kind to the Panthers. They lost three straight close-out opportunities against the Oilers in last year's Cup Final before closing the deal at home. This year, they needed two tries to finish off the Maple Leafs and Hurricanes, losing the first close-out game at home before winning both Game 7s on the road. 'When you're playing a team that their backs are against the wall, it's important to come out with a good start both sides,' Tkachuk said. ' … They're in a different situation right now. I think this is their first elimination game of the playoffs. So that's a different wrinkle for things. And for us, we've played one Game 7. So maybe we have a tiny advantage with knowing the desperation that they're going to come out with. But we have to match that desperation.' Advertisement Maurice sounds understanding as to why Florida needed multiple tries to close out those series, although he could do without flying back to Edmonton for another Game 7 on June 20. 'So you've played well and you've put yourself in a position to eliminate the other team,' Maurice said. 'It's not guaranteed, because the other team is pretty darn good. So there's nothing learned where you'd say, 'OK, now we've figured it out,' because if you figure that out, you'd win next year — you'd win 16 straight, right? It doesn't work like that.' Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch has pushed every button in this series, flip-flopping goaltenders Stuart Skinner and Calvin Pickard and mixing up his lines. Some of it worked. Some. Oilers star Conner McDavid has played 12 playoff games against the Panthers these past two seasons. He has scored in only three of them, a total of four goals. He has one goal and six assists in this series. Advertisement 'He's probably the best player of our generation,' Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov said. 'So you have to be aware of him every single time he's on the ice and you have to try and take the space away from him.' But even when McDavid isn't scoring, the Panthers see the Oilers as a threat. Florida took a quick 3-0 lead at home in Game 4 but ended up losing 5-4 in overtime on a goal by Leon Draisaitl, who joins him atop the NHL postseason scoring list with 33 points. Maurice called the Oilers 'the most dangerous team in the National Hockey League' under normal conditions. So if they should find themselves trailing in what could be the final game of the Stanley Cup Final? 'Their risk profile changes,' Maurice said. 'When they're down a goal or two, they are incredibly hard to handle.' Advertisement One more victory would give Tkachuk the option of repeating one of the more unique Stanley Cup celebrations. Last year he took the trophy for a swim off Fort Lauderdale Beach. 'There's no secret the Cup's in the building,' Tkachuk said. 'It's going to be the toughest test, the biggest game.' Florida Panthers just one win away from repeating as champs after Game 5 win: Recap How does Brad Marchand's Stanley Cup Final performance stack up with other Miami stars? This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Stanley Cup Final: Matthew Tkachuk, Florida Panthers can finish Oilers at home
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Stanley Cup: Paul Maurice believes Panthers channeled playoff disappointments in OT win at Oilers
Add experience to Florida Panthers coach Paul Maurice's list of things he is not a big believer in, but not quite to the extent of how he feels about momentum. After watching how his team handled the disappointment of relinquishing the lead in against the Edmonton Oilers with less than 18 seconds remaining in regulation in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final, and having to regroup for an overtime that could have meant falling behind 0-2, Maurice put a condition on his thoughts. Advertisement "I'm not a huge believer in experience unless you talk about it, unless you draw on it," Maurice said the morning after the Panthers' 5-4 double-overtime victory that evened the series at 1 as it heads to South Florida for Game 3. "But there's a truth to that. We've had some tough ones, the three years of playoffs these men have been through you're going to have some tough nights, you're going to have some games get away." Florida Panthers center Brad Marchand (63) reacts after making the game winning goal against the Edmonton Oilers during double overtime in game two of the 2025 Stanley Cup Final at Rogers Place. Maurice referenced the 2024 Cup Final. After taking a 3-0 lead over the Oilers, Florida was manhandled in Game 4, losing 8-1, and two games later lost 5-1 as Edmonton forced a Game 7. Advertisement But the Panthers rebounded from three straight losses and were steady in a 2-1 Game 7 win at home resulting in their first championship. Maurice believes that experience showed when the Panthers recovered from the Oilers late goal, and fought through an inconsistent first overtime period, which then allowed them to come out strong in the second OT, which ended at 8:05 on Brad Marchand's breakaway goal. "I didn't love the first period of our overtime, I thought we got better as it built," he said. "But careful about critiquing that because it's a tough way to get to overtime with 17 seconds (to play in regulation). That's tough. "So they held in period four and I do think having enough veteran guys who have been kicked enough times that they understand what that feels like and then they can come out and they settle." Advertisement Forward Matthew Tkachuk describing the mood between the end of regulation and start of overtime in Game 2 shows a team that was drawing on those experiences. "It was the opposite of what you guys probably thought was going on in the locker room,' he said. "We were upbeat, joking around, picking guys who we thought were going to score. We were having some fun." The win was Florida's ninth on the road in the 2025 postseason, one shy of the record held by six teams. Paul Maurice reveals how he came close to getting a tattoo Maurice was asked about the Panthers popularity in the Hispanic community, which is partly illustrated by the number of shirts worn by fans that read 'Vamos Gatos' (Let's Go Cats), when he told a story about the 2023 Stanley Cup Final. Advertisement Maurice promised if the Panthers beat the Vegas Golden Knights he would get a 'Vamos Gatos' tattoo. The Panthers lost in five games. "That's kind of almost a silver lining of us losing to Vegas, that would have been painful," Maurice joked. Maurice continued about how unique it is to coach an NHL team in South Florida. "There's this connection here in South Florida that is different because it is non- traditional," Maurice said. "Where it's great is when you get families involved." Maurice lives close to the Panthers facility in Fort Lauderdale and often walks to practice. He loves seeing the kids carrying their hockey bags into the facility, which is public. Advertisement "It's a cross section of different people, different families, different communities," he said. "It's fantastic. I'm glad that we can share our game with everybody and it's wonderful to see and I didn't have to get a tattoo to do it." Tom D'Angelo is a senior sports columnist and reporter for The Palm Beach Post. He can be reached at tdangelo@ This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Stanley Cup Final: Florida Panthers' Paul Maurice talks overtime win at Edmonton
NBC Sports
2 days ago
- Sport
- NBC Sports
‘A well-oiled machine': How the Florida Panthers' team-first mentality led to another Stanley Cup
SUNRISE, Fla. — Aleksander Barkov hoisted the Stanley Cup, skated with it for a few moments and then handed it to a grinning Nate Schmidt, in his first year with the Florida Panthers and raising hockey's hallowed trophy for the first time. Before any repeat winner touched it, every Panther who never had before got the chance. 'There's a lot of guys they play a ton of minutes that are huge contributors to this group, and they bypassed them and said: 'We had it last year. We'll never not cherish this moment,'' Schmidt said. 'It was amazing.' It also personified the Panthers, who did not have the best player in the final, not facing Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers again. They may not have even had the second-best with Leon Draisaitl there, too, but Florida repeating as champions showed exactly why hockey is the ultimate team sport. 'We just have so much heart, so much talent: Heart meets talent,' said winger Matthew Tkachuk, who played through a sports hernia and torn adductor muscle. 'Our team was a team. When things were getting hard for them, they looked to one guy. But our team, we do it collectively.' The Panthers had 19 non-goalies on the ice over six games against the Oilers; 15 registered a point and 11 scored at least once. Coach Paul Maurice said the team is 'just really deep — unusually so,' making the point that he essentially had three first lines to roll out at any given time. 'A very talented group of guys, so when you bring somebody in, we're going to play you with a really good player,' Maurice said. General manager Bill Zito, who inherited Barkov, defenseman Aaron Ekblad and goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky, built the rest of the roster to win in the playoffs. With Maurice and his staff in charge, players who were adrift or simply mediocre elsewhere thrived in Florida. 'For the most part, every guy who's come here has had the best season of their careers,' Zito said. 'From that perspective, it's gratifying to think that we can create an environment where the guys can do that, but it's the team. It's that room. It truly is.' Fourth-liner A.J. Greer is one of those players after nearly giving up on his NHL dream a few years ago. He, Zito, Conn Smythe Trophy winner Sam Bennett and so many others use the word 'culture' to explain the Panthers' greatness, and it translates into results on the ice. The forecheck is never-ending, the harassment in the neutral zone relentless — and the offense burgeoning with talent. 'Everyone levels their game up here — every one of us,' Greer said. 'There's a sentiment of greatness but of just like wanting to be as good as you were yesterday.' Tkachuk, acquired by Zito in a trade from Calgary in the same summer of 2022 when Maurice was hired as coach, shook his head when asked about scoring the Cup-clinching goal in Game 6. He wanted to make a point that it doesn't matter who scores. 'I don't care about personal stats,' Tkachuk said. 'I don't care. Our team doesn't (care) about that. That's what makes us a team, and that's why we're lifting the Stanley Cup right now because we're a team and not a bunch of individuals.' McDavid, who had seven points in six games in the final, had nothing but praise after a second straight loss to the Panthers on the NHL's biggest stage. 'They're a really good team,' McDavid said. 'Very deserving. They were really good.' Florida was in the final for a third consecutive year, and the only loss during this stretch came to Vegas in 2023 when injuries ravaged Tkachuk, Ekblad and others. That was the start of the winning blueprint that has made the Panthers so successful for so long. 'There's a way that we do things here, and it's not easy,' said Bennett, who led all players in the playoffs with 15 goals. 'We don't play an easy style of hockey. It demands a lot of you. Every single guy's bought into it. When some new guys came in, they instantly bought into what we do here and the commitment to being great, to winning. Every single guy just really bought into that.' Schmidt found that out quickly. He played for Maurice in Winnipeg, got bought out last summer and just wanted to get his game back. That happened quickly, and the Stanley Cup was the reward after going through another long grind as a team. 'It's the system. It's the group. It's just completely selfless,' Schmidt said. 'Guys just play one way, and they say, 'Hey, this is how we do things' and you've got to jump on board. Guys, once they mold themselves into the game, you just become another cog in the wheel here. That's just the way it runs. It's just a well-oiled machine.'
