“I can’t explain it to you any better, but these guys are different,” Paul Maurice said last year after the Panthers beat Edmonton 2-1 in Game 7 to lift the Stanley Cup for the first time in their 30-season history. Cut to the present day, the Oilers are just one win away from doing it again, that too against the same opponent, all thanks to their dominant 5-2 victory in Game 5.

Brad Marchand took the initiative again. With two goals, Marchand brought his series-leading total to six goals, while Sam Bennett continued his postseason dominance by netting his NHL playoff-leading 15th goal. Both Sam Reinhart and Eetu Luostarinen scored into the empty net, and that defined the Panthers’ night as one step away from repeating the glory. While the team capitalised on their key chances, they bounced back perfectly after a Game 4 loss and now look forward to the most anticipated one.

However, in a recent Zoom call with the media after the win, Maurice was asked whether things feel different this time around, when last year, the Panthers admitted they could hardly sleep before a potential closeout game. “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,” Maurice highlighted how the games they played previously made the team tough and resilient to compete in the present.

Well, he had more to add. “I think we were all pretty wired after game three last year, and I think we can handle that a bit better now,” Maurice further said. The Panthers lost the plot in Game 4 last year as the Oilers clobbered them 8-1 at Rogers Place.

And that wasn’t the only one. They dropped three straight games, tying the series at 3-3 and finally came back with prowess to avoid the historic collapse! And for the head coach “It was perfect Florida Panthers fashion.” “Nothing’s easy. We needed to lose three in the final to learn how to win four,” Maurice said after lifting the Stanley Cup. With the team now gearing up for Game 6, Maurice looks forward to being as focused as possible by avoiding the jitters because the sixth one will be the defining moment for both teams looking forward to solidifying their legacy.

Paul Maurice opens about the Panthers’ challenges ahead of Game 6. 

With the Panthers being regular customers in the finals of late, Maurice is the best ever coach for the Panthers. And now, as his team flourishes and succeeds in the playoffs, he openly admits that finding this identity took time and came along with a fair share of setbacks. “We were close to our identity, it’s a hard thing to establish. It’s a hard thing to get to,” he said, and hey, that wasn’t just a casual remark but a reflection of the grinding process that shaped the franchise into a championship contender.

Maurice walked into a team that was still unsure of what kind of hockey it wanted to play. “It took longer than we thought, probably because I was trying to marry two ideas, was trying to keep the whatever we had, 387 goals felt like the year before, to another game,” he further stated. The Panthers averaged a massive 4.11 goals per game in the 2021-22 regular season. However, since Maurice joined, they have come to be hailed for their defensive prowess.

And that’s been on display this Finals series, too. Before Game 5, Connor McDavid had nothing to show for his 17 shots on goal—one of the many reasons the Panthers are where they are. The Oilers had been looking much more dangerous than last season, but Brad Marchand and Co. have gotten most things right, forcing them to go back to the drawing board time and again. All they need to do now is capitalize on the momentum, and they might just avoid another Game 7 altogether.