They call it the Paul Maurice effect. “We were close to our identity, it’s a hard thing to establish. It’s a hard thing to get to,” he said, reflecting upon the work he has done to reshape the Florida Panthers today. And once again, the Panthers are killing it! Competing against the same opponents as last year, Florida is now sitting on a 3-2 after defeating the Edmonton Oilers in Game 5. And for Maurice? It has always been about trust and resilience that build a team that knows exactly who they are when the stakes are highest.

Florida lost their first game against the Oilers. But they came right back into the series with two back-to-back wins, the second of which was a 6-1 blowout. Then, things went south again. Despite leading the game 3-0 at the end of the first period, the Panthers ultimately lost the Game 5-4 in front of a home crowd, thanks to Leon Draisaitl’s OT winner. The series now stood tied at 2-2, with the momentum in the Oilers’ favor. But then they bounced back again with a 5-2 win at Rogers Place. Needless to say, it has been a rollercoaster of a postseason for Maurice’s boys, but one of the reasons they have managed to stay on top of things despite the occasional setbacks is that their squad has mostly been healthy of late.

On June 16, Maurice addressed the media after a light practice session. When asked about the stability and comfort of his lineup, Maurice clearly stated, “Yeah, but it’s all health-based, right? Like we’re a pretty healthy team, fortunately, at this point. And we’ve got good players. And having been, like there’s a real advantage at times for your injuries that happen during the year because it forces you to play people.” And on whether or not there would be any changes ahead of the big one, Maurice said, “So there wouldn’t be a substitution that we would make now that would be a change for our group where you’re, how is this going to impact it.” That being said, Maurice did a bit of shifting and altering during Game 3 vs. the Oilers.

He brought AJ Greer back to the lineup, who was returning from a lower-body injury. While doing so, Maurice removed Jesper Boqvist, who had replaced Greer in two games of the Stanley Cup finals. However, a big believer in the motto ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’, Maurice didn’t make any panic changes to the line-up for Game 5 despite what had happened just a day before. “Everyone is healthy,” he said before the game, and we all know what followed. But while Maurice isn’t making any changes in the lineup up ahead of Game 6 either, he does have a few things to take care of.

Paul Maurice does not want last year’s jitters

Paul Maurice is just one win away from 18th coach in NHL history to pull off a Stanley Cup repeat. However, if he and the Panthers want that win to come in Game 6, they will have to be a lot calmer than they were last year before their potential close-out game against the Oilers.

During an interview over Zoom call, Maurice said, “Well, we’re hopeful. Certainly the context changes when you get this close, but having a bit of an experience does matter. It does help in this.” “I think we were all pretty wired after game three last year, and I think we can handle that a bit better now,” Maurice added. The Panthers had taken a 3-0 lead in the Finals against Edmonton last year, but went on to lose Game 4 8-1, triggering the Oilers’ comeback that dragged the series all the way to the winner-takes-all Game 7.

However, reflecting on the present day, things look pretty settled for the Panthers. On the other hand, the Oilers have a lot of issues to address—not the least of which is their goaltending situation. That being said, Kris Knoblauch men are no strangers to adversity. “We said all season we don’t do it the easy way. We’ve always taken it and made it the hard way and that’s our approach,” their 40-year-old veteran Corey Perry said after practice on Monday. Who do you think will come out on top in Game 6? Will the Panthers avoid a Game 7 this year? Or do we have another comeback on the horizon? Let us know in the comments.