The Florida Panthers lead the playoff series against the Toronto Maple Leafs 2-0. But coach Paul Maurice does not feel safe by a long shot. This despite the fact that the Panthers now have two games on home ice.
– Not once during the last nine games have we dominated; the teams we face are just too good, Maurice said Friday after the seven-game sweep against the President’s Trophy winner Boston Bruins (4-3) and now the two-game sweep against the Maple Leafs.
[De senaste nyheterna från serien mellan Maple Leafs-Panthers]
Maurice is concerned by what he thought he saw already in the first game against the Maple Leafs, and even more so in the second: that the players are starting to get tired in their legs.
– Sergei (Bobrovsky, goalkeeper) is our most rested player now after him (only played seven games). So the rest days we get now are extremely important to us; we need the rest. “I didn’t feel very well this morning…just tired,” Maurice said.
Florida advanced to the playoffs via the last wild card spot from the Eastern Conference. Paul Maurice was particularly pleased with the game at Bortais where the Panthers finished with the suite 19-19-3. In the playoffs, Florida has won five games on the road.
Video: TOR-FLA, M2: Forsling finds the right to 3-2
– It’s quite interesting: the whole year we talked about playing evenly away and we ended up 19-19, so… But I could never have believed that we would win against Boston away from home, but the playoffs are a separate thing . We have faced two teams that had enormous pressure on them on home ice; the requirement is that they must be dynamic and very good at home. So playing away can be a safe place sometimes. It’s also a good way to bring the team together with shared breakfasts and such.
– But one thing is certain: it will be nice to come home, says Paul Maurice.
2023-05-05 21:53:13
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