Florida's Paul Maurice and Vegas' Bruce Cassidy are both in their first seasons with their respective clubs
The Stanley Cup Final is just two days away from kicking off.
Finally.
It’s been over a week since the Florida Panthers last played, a casualty of completing a four-game sweep during the conference final.
While the team has been practicing and staying sharp in the interim, Florida still had to wait five days after reaching the Final before they knew which opponent they could zero in on.
The Vegas Golden Knights defeated the Dallas Stars in six games, clinching the Western Conference title on Monday night.
Panthers Head Coach Paul Maurice discussed earlier this week how Florida will see elements of each of their three postseason opponents in the Golden Knights.
On Wednesday, Vegas Head Coach Bruce Cassidy spoke about the challenge Florida will present.
“They’ve powered through the East against some really strong regular season teams,” Cassidy said. “Obviously we’ll have our hands full.”
Just like with Maurice in Florida, this is Cassidy’s first season behind the bench in Las Vegas.
He spent the previous six years as head coach of the Boston Bruins, so there will be some familiarity in facing the Panthers, but really, not that much.
Cassidy was quick to point out how much Florida has changed under the tutelage of Maurice.
"The biggest thing I've noticed is, the rush game used to kill you," Cassidy said. "If you could shut that down, you'd probably be able to outwill them, to get to the front of the net, different areas like that. Tampa did that do them.
“What they’ve done differently this year is they try to find offense from below the goal line, and getting pucks deep as opposed to always off the rush. That’s what I’ve seen.”
In terms of Florida’s forechecking, Cassidy was asked if he thinks the Panthers are the toughest team Vegas will face in that department.
“I suspect they probably will be, that’s why they’ve advanced,” Cassidy said. “That would be my guess and that’s how we’re going to game plan it, that they will be the toughest to box out and get under their sticks.”
Implementing change in a hockey team’s systems is never an easy thing, as anyone paying attention to the Panthers this season can attest to.
It wasn’t until it was nearly too late that something clicked with the team and they were able to squeak into the playoffs.
Suddenly, those new elements - the tighter checking, holding the puck less, the aggressive forecheck - were breeding success.
That’s when Florida’s game really took off, and Cassidy is well aware.
“Because they’ve changed their game, they’ve really bought into it, and they’ve had success,” he said. “When you have success at something, you’re really going to go to it.”