Paul Maurice's Panthers One Win Away from Stanley Cup Appearance

All things considered, the Florida Panthers are likely heading to the Stanley Cup Final.

With a 3-0 Eastern Conference Final series lead over the dominant Carolina Hurricanes, paired with the fact that only four teams in NHL history have ever come back to win when trailing three-games-to-none in a playoff series, Florida's chances at a Stanley Cup appearance are pretty much a lock. 

Fresh off the heels of back-to-back Matthew Tkachuk overtime winners in Games 1 and 2, Florida rode the coattails of star netminder Sergei Bobrovsky, en route to a 1-0 shutout in Game 3 on Monday night. 

In pulling ahead 3-0, the Panthers will look finish off Carolina and make their way back to the Stanley Cup for the first time since 1996, when John Vanbiesbrouck and Co. lost in four-straight to Patrick Roy and the Colorado Avalanche. 

Leading the charge behind the bench is first year head coach Paul Maurice. Having previously coached Hurricanes' bench boss Rod Brind'Amour in his time with Carolina, Maurice actually missed out on the Canes' Stanley Cup winning year, as he was fired in the early stages of the 2003-04 season. 

Joining Carolina/Hartford back in 1995, Maurice stayed with the team through its 2002 Stanley Cup loss to the Detroit Red Wings. But was not around during the club's championship-winning season in 2006.

After some time in Toronto, he was brought back to Carolina for the 2008-09 season, where his squad made it to the conference final, but lost to the Pittsburgh Penguins. 

Having been fired by the Hurricanes for the second time, Maurice took over behind the bench in Winnipeg in 2013. He helped the Jets make it to the 2018 Western Conference Final, where his club earned the first win of the series over the expansion Vegas Golden Knights. But the Jets dropped the next four games, falling to Vegas in just five games.

Although coaching some talented Winnipeg teams over the years following that conference final appearance, Maurice never could quite get his group back to that same level. He famously walked out on the team in December of 2021, to which Winnipeg was left scrambling to find his replacement.

Having 'lost his passion for hockey', Maurice took the rest of the season off, before signing with Florida to serve as head coach beginning in September of 2022. 

Interestingly enough, the Panthers had just come off a bizarre year, to which the team had seen head coach Joel Quenneville resign, due to his role in the Kyle Beach/Chicago Blackhawks scandal. Andrew Brunette took over for Quenneville and helped lead the Panthers to the league's best record (58-18-6). 

Florida ultimately lost to Tampa Bay in the second round, but its strong regular season was certainly the talking point throughout the offseason.

That was, until the team decided not to extend Brunette, but rather bring in Maurice. 

Not only did general manger Bill Zito add Maurice, he also brought in Brandon Montour on defence and made the monstrous Jonathan Huberdeau/Matthew Tkachuk deal that has clearly paid off for the Panthers. 

Cutting bait with a coach that led the team to 58 wins took guts, but finding a perfect fit for the long-time Winnipeg bench boss appeared to be a calculated decision.

Having already accomplished more with the Panthers in 335 days than he did over parts of nine years with the Jets, 2022-23 has been a booming success for the 57-year-old Sault Ste. Marie product.

Now, with Bobrovsky, Tkachuk and the rest of the supporting cast, Maurice's Panthers will look to close out the Hurricanes on Wednesday night. Puck drop for Game 4 is set for 7:00 PM central time from FLA Live Arena. The game can be viewed live on Sportsnet in Canada.