Winning in the regular season is good. But winning in the playoffs is better. Much better!
Bill Zito had this great principle in mind when he contacted Paul Maurice to bring him out of retirement, offer him the position of head coach of the Panthers and give him the mandate to make this team a club capable of winning. in series.
Less than two years after this hiring (June 22, 2022), Maurice can smile with satisfaction.
After leading the Panthers to the grand final last year against the Las Vegas Golden Knights, Maurice could lift the Stanley Cup on Saturday night in Edmonton, after captain Aleksander Barkov and his teammates parade around the ice rink from Rogers Place with the precious trophy at arm’s length.
Quite an achievement.
“I inherited a team that had collected 122 points in the regular season (58 wins, 18 losses and six other losses in overtime or shootouts) and it only had 92 at the end of my first season. Nothing to make me look like a genius,” Maurice quipped a few times since the start of the final, recalling his first moments with the Panthers.
Not to mention that the Panthers would have missed the playoffs had it not been for their streak of six victories in the last seven games of the season (6-1-1) combined with the collapse of the Pittsburgh Penguins who lost 10 of their 16 last games including the last two at the hands of the poor Chicago Blackhawks and Columbus Blue Jackets.
But once in the playoffs, the Panthers were sensational. They found the agile pads of their goalkeeper Sergei Bobrovsky and applied the style of play necessary to win in the playoffs.
They applied this same recipe during all 82 games of the regular season and will apply it again Saturday night, in their 21st and perhaps final game of the playoffs.
Maurice doesn’t have the secret to this winning recipe. Others have concocted and used it before him.
The best example in recent NHL history comes from Barry Trotz who was able to convince Alexander Ovechkin to be more “responsible” defensively and to stop cheating to increase his goals in order to help his team’s cause. This recipe greatly contributed to the first conquest of Ovechkin and the Capitals in the spring of 2018 when they beat the Golden Knights in the grand final at the end of their first season in the NHL.
Barkov: very good student
In Florida, Maurice didn’t have to rack his brains to imitate Trotz and find a way to convince his captain to get involved and apply himself defensively.
Aleksander Barkov was already one of the best in the NHL at both ends of the ice. He was already competing with Patrice Bergeron, Anze Kopitar and Ryan O’Reilly.
Under Maurice’s leadership, he became the best in the League. He has just won his second career title as the best defensive forward in the NHL and, if the trend continues, his name will be associated with that of Frank-Selke for several seasons to come.
Maurice, however, had to be more convincing with other players.
Matthew Tkachuk is still a prolific scorer. He is still as aggressive on the ice and ready to do anything to distract the opponent.
But Tkachuk claims to have understood the message from his head coach who encouraged him to avoid unnecessary penalties in order to help his team’s defensive cause rather than harm it by offering massive attacks to its rivals.
After 20 playoff games, Tkachuk is still the Panthers’ most punished player with 23 minutes spent in the penalty box. But after promising ahead of the grand final that he would be more disciplined and stop being in the middle of the scrum after the whistle, Tkachuk has only received two minor penalties in three games so far.
And every time Tkachuk is asked about the quality of Maurice’s work, he doesn’t hesitate for a second before calling him the best head coach he’s ever played for. Of a head coach for whom all his teammates also want to win.
Ekblad in the style of Ovechkin
The transition to a tighter defense is most evident in the Panthers’ camp and can be seen in the way veteran Aaron Ekblab plays.
The very first pick in the 2014 draft, Ekblad has amassed 347 points (115 goals) in the 676 regular season games he played.
It was his offensive performances that allowed him to win the Calder Trophy at the end of his first season in Florida. And although he was always considered a complete defender, Ekblad had a penchant for attacking.
He still likes to launch himself towards the enemy zone to support the attacking trios. But he is more aware than ever of the importance of first taking up the defensive mandates entrusted to him.
Important mandates since Ekblad systematically finds himself in front of the best enemy trios in the company of his excellent partner Gustav Forsling at equal strength in addition to completing with the Swedish rear the Panthers’ busiest duo when the time comes to take penalties .
Crossed in the Panthers locker room Thursday morning, Ekblad agreed that his transition to defense could be compared to that of Ovechkin.
“It’s clear that I have had discussions with Paul since his arrival to be more active and effective defensively. But today’s hockey and the complicity with my playing partner also dictated this change to me,” said the 28-year-old guard before elaborating.
“The game is so much faster today that it’s imperative to think defensively first and attack later. We can no longer take unnecessary risks. Especially in the Stanley Cup final. I still like to go on the attack. But I’m more selective about when to go. And with a guy like Gustav by my side, a guy who excels in all facets of the game, sometimes the responsibility falls on me to stay behind,” Ekblad explained.
Quite a contrast with his first seasons. It must be said that the giant defender experienced gray years with the Panthers when he arrived in Florida ten years ago. Gray years during which the collective objectives were so low that the players focused much more on their personal objectives.
A reality that the general manager wanted to change. And that’s what he did by entrusting his team to Paul Maurice.
Reputation corrected
The irony behind Maurice’s hiring and the fundamental mandate given to him by Zito is that over the course of his career, Maurice has developed a reputation as an excellent regular season coach. But a head coach incapable of maintaining the level of performance of his teams once the playoffs begin.
Maurice has led his teams to the playoffs 11 times in 26 seasons since entering the NHL in 1995 with the Hartford Whalers.
He has a record of 69 wins and 64 losses in playoff games and had made it to the grand final only once – with the Carolina Hurricanes in 2002 – before taking the reins of the Panthers.
His second consecutive grand final and the conquest of the Stanley Cup that he is about to celebrate with his team, will allow him to completely redefine his reputation. To correct it. To confirm that he is not only capable of winning in the regular season and in his debates with journalists. But he can also win in the Stanley Cup grand final.
Unless the Edmonton Oilers, with four consecutive victories, come and shake up everything…
