Experience is an extremely valuable trait to have earned when it comes to the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

It’s coveted across the board and often will garner players higher salaries when contract negotiation time rolls around.

The experience gained by the Florida Panthers over the past several postseasons has paid off in many clear and obvious ways.

Three years ago, Florida advanced past the first round for the first time in decades. Much of that roster remained intact for the following season, and that’s when the Panthers shocked the hockey world and marched all the way to the Stanley Cup Final as an eight seed.

Then last season was when everything fell into place for Florida, but not without new adversity not seen during their previous postseason journeys.

While there are surely situations that the Panthers have yet to face during the playoffs, the team of seasoned postseason veterans has kept their composure and shown that they can handle basically anything that has been thrown at them, at least so far.

On Friday, a difficult yet familiar situation will be waiting for the Panthers when they arrive to Amerant Bank Arena for Game 6 against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

When it comes to advancing during the postseason, it’s no secret that the hardest game to win during a best-of-seven series is the clincher.

To a man, an athlete is going to fight tooth and nail, give everything they have, when their back is against the wall and there’s nowhere to go but home.

Over the past three years under Paul Maurice, the Panthers have gone 8-6 in games where they have an opportunity to eliminate their opponent.

Florida went 3-1 in such games during their 2023 run to the Stanley Cup Final.

Last summer, Florida was 3-2 until they reached Final, where they went up three-nothing in the series and then lost three straight before ultimately winning Game 7.

So far this season the Cats are 1-0 after going up three-games-to-one on Tampa Bay in the opening round and defeating them in Game 5.

Speaking ahead of their next elimination opportunity, Paul Maurice said on Thursday that his team’s confidence in these situations is absolutely due to everything they’ve learned and endured over the past several years.

“Well, the first lesson was Toronto, two years ago,” Maurice explained. “We had a three nothing series lead, we went home and wanted it so bad that we tried to make it happen, but every time we touched the puck, we were just throwing hope plays, so, I think a bit of a bit of patience in the game.”

That’s the thing, balancing that excitement and temptation to try and do just a little bit more, and instead understanding that what you’ve been doing has clearly been working.

Basically, just stick with the program.

“It's a lot of patience in our game,” said Panthers defenseman Gus Forsling. “We don't need to score two or three or four goals in the first period. We just want to stay with it and just play our game and we know we're usually getting the result we want.”

For most of the players on Florida’s roster, their memories should be fresh with the knowledge of just how difficult it can be to eliminate a desperate, talented team.

You can have everything on your side, all the momentum and a big lead, and things can fall apart in what feels like the blink of an eye.

That’s where the experience, those learned lessons, become crucial to lean on.

“When you learn something, you usually don't forget it, right?” said Maurice. “Like if you learn how to tie your shoe, two years later, you don't forget. So we thought we learned (how to close teams out) two years ago, and then forgot it for three straight games in the Final last year. It's nothing you get to keep, it's something that you have to live through and maybe recall pieces of it.”

When Maurice and Co. host the Maple Leafs in Game 6, they’ll surely be drawing back on many of those thoughts and lessons.

The fact that their current series has been one of winning streaks and momentum swings, it’s that unpredictability that should have everyone on their toes.

Before Game 5 on Wednesday, the previous four games against Toronto had all been very tightly contested.

That’s what the Panthers will be preparing for on Friday, as they know what it means to battle a squad facing no tomorrow and fighting to keep their Stanley Cup dreams alive.

“It's been a tight series, and it still is,” said Forsling. “We're looking forward to coming back home and finishing the job.”

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