Florida Head Coach Paul Maurice isn't concerned about his team blowing late leads
There was a postseason feel to Tuesday night’s battle between the Florida Panthers and Boston Bruins.
The two Atlantic Division rivals came into the game tied atop the standings and went toe-to-toe for 60 excellent minutes of exciting hockey.
While it was the visiting Bruins who came away with the two points after scoring a pair of late goals, Florida may have taken home something slightly more valuable.
Let’s get to the takeaways.
Very playoff-y game
This game had a little bit of everything.
Tight scoring, hard hitting, lead blowing, fighting, controversy, it was all packed into 60 minutes in Sunrise.
These teams have plenty of animosity toward one another, and if it somehow works out, they’re surely give us another incredibly entertaining playoff series.
“It was just that tight of a game that it'd be a bounce around the net that made the difference,” said Panthers Head Coach Paul Maurice. “It was just a really good hockey game, and you want to win it, when you get the lead like that you want to be able to close it out, but suffering sometimes is good. It's good for you to put that much effort in and come away with nothing. We could’ve been a little harder in some areas, but I'm not gonna complain about the game. It was a heck of a game. It was as good of a game as we've been part of this year in terms of speed and physicality. That were good plays, there were knuckle pucks on both sides, some good saves, both teams fought hard not to give much up. If you can watch a game with 42 final shots that get to the net and say it was an exciting game, then there's a lot going on, so it was a good hockey game.”
Holding leads an issue?
Each of Florida’s past two losses have come during games in which they held a lead late in the third period.
Granted, the Rangers loss saw Florida score with 4:08 to go and surrender a goal 43 seconds later, and last night against Boston the Panthers took 3-2 lead with 10:08 remaining only to fall behind less than six minutes later and give up the winning (or losing) goal two minutes after that.
Still, it’s a troubling to think that Florida has been in the lead, late, against two of the top teams in the Eastern Conference only to lose both games.
Asked about it after Tuesday’s game, Maurice said he’s fine with the overall way his team has performed late in games recently.
“We're not sitting back,” Maurice said. “We're certainly not casual, but we're not afraid of the puck and we’re not afraid to make plays. That's what you look for. You’re still trying to play the game and not trying to hold the lead. You probably shouldn't throw it in the stands (as Evan Rodrigues did during the third period), but those things aren’t systemic.”
Let the anger feed the wolf
As Maurice alluded to earlier, there are still things the Panthers can get from this game, despite not picking up any points in the standings.
The team is preparing for what they hope is another long playoff run, so dealing with different kinds of trials and tribulations during the regular season should only help them.
Playing with a little extra fire in the belly could also be advantageous.
“I liked our game tonight,” Maurice said. “That's four in six for us. It was a heavy cost to each shift and each period, and it didn't go the way we wanted. I don't mind a little bit of that sour taste right now, a little bit of hunger, a little bit of anger. It keeps them more focused. Two teams with 97 points came in and hit…hard. That's worth the price (of admission). That's a good hockey game to watch. That was well done. It hurts because you invest so much into winning and you lose, but somebody gets something real valuable out of this game. What happens between now and the puck drop in the next one decides who wins that part of it.”
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