Panthers dropped Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final to Vegas on Saturday night
Paul Maurice was on the loose side after Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final.
When he addressed the media following the Florida Panthers 5-2 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights, Maurice may have been the most relaxed guy in the room.
He encouraged the group looking back at him, in so many words, to take a chill pill.
“Everybody can breathe,” he said. “I feel like you people have been here, and you’re tight. Gotta loosen you up a little bit.”
Maurice would certainly do his best to help with that during the remainder of his press conference.
Regarding the result of the game, he saw an evenly-match contest in which the bounces, and great goaltending, leaned the way of the home team.
“They had a couple point shots that snuck their way through, we sneak one through, and the best chances both teams had, the goalies made great saves on,” Maurice said.
He was also asked about the third period goal scored by Knights forward Mark Stone, in which Stone knocked the puck out of midair with his stick, settled it down and shot it over Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky’s glove.
Maurice challenged the play, alleging that Stone touched the puck with a high stick, but after a brief review by the officiating crew, the goal was deemed a good one.
After the game, Maurice said the decision to challenge was based on how close the play looked and that the score would’ve been 4-2 late in the third if the goal were to stand.
Instead of talking about the play itself, Maurice was more enthralled by how efficient the officials were in examining what happened.
“I was really impressed with the speed they came back with a ‘no,’” he said. “I think they were just excited about getting us in the box one more time.”
Vegas ended up with seven power plays during Game 1, scoring on two of them. The Panthers went 0-for-3 with the man advantage.
The final question of the night provided the biggest laugh for the group, and it had to do with Stone’s goal.
See, the puck that Stone knocked out of the air came off the stick of Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk.
It was technically a turnover thanks to the great hand-eye coordination of Stone, but generally pucks that are around five feet off the ice aren’t in danger of being intercepted like that.
Maurice almost laughed while dropping an f-bomb when he was asked how tough Tkachuk's turnover on Stone’s goal was.
"Fuck, it was 3-2! It was tough, man!” he said. “On the gradation of tough, root canal to lumpy oatmeal, it was closer to the root canal side of toughness.”
Maurice and the Panthers will be looking to bounce back in Game 2 on Monday.
Getting out of Vegas with a split of the first two games would be a big win for Florida heading back east.
Overall, Maurice seemed to see some things he liked from his team during Game 1, knowing there are things they will likely improve on, as has been the case throughout the postseason.
“We’ll play a tight game, we’ll play a loose game, not that we prefer to, but we don’t mind the rush a little bit at times,” Maurice said. “It just turned on the turnover.”