Paul Maurice leads a good team. The Florida Panthers, under his guidance, reached the Stanley Cup Final last year and easily qualified for the playoffs this year.
But does that mean everything is perfect? No.
Yesterday, the club lost to Patrick Roy’s Islanders. We’re talking about a club fighting for a playoff spot, and they played accordingly. The Islanders are four points out of the play-offs with 10 games to go.
The Panthers, on the other hand, have now qualified for the playoffs despite their defeat. The sense of urgency in Sunrise isn’t intense under the Florida sun, and that doesn’t make Paul Maurice happy.
When the coach met the media, he wasn’t proud of his boys’ effort. How proud? To the point where he refused to comment.
That said, unlike John Tortorella, Maurice did give an answer. He told the journalists at his press briefing to make up a quote of what they thought the coach might say.
He promised not to criticize afterwards. So he won’t be invited to the club of the misquoted.
Paul Maurice refused to answer any questions regarding the Panthers clinching a playoff spot.
He was not pleased with tonight’s effort.
“Today is free quote fucking day. Take whatever you think I might say and use it. I won’t bitch about it.”
– Colby Guy (@ColbyDGuy) March 29, 2024
Today is a day to come up with a cr*** quote.
Take what you think I might say and use it. I won’t cry over the quote. – Paul Maurice
So I decided, with the coach’s permission, to make up a quote legally. It’s not often you get to do that, so you might as well make the most of it, right?
It goes like this.
I can’t believe the playoffs are coming up and the guys are playing like this. It’s disrespectful to the fans who come out to see us play.
If this doesn’t settle down, we’ll be in trouble.
I wanted to go a step further and say that if this continues, Panthers fans won’t be coming to the arena in greater numbers, but you have to be realistic, you know.
And when I looked, I saw that there were over 19,000 fans in the arena yesterday. Since when does the club have fans in the stands?
In bursts
– As long as it’s not David Reinbacher who gets the boot for his Place Bell debut.
We’re shaking things up defensively at the Rocket. Olivier Galipeau will skip his turn to bring in Mattias Norlinder, who has been out for the last 4 games.
– Anthony Marcotte (@anthonymarcotte) March 29, 2024
– Oh no?
The left-hander wants to win. https://t.co/cmJxfLFbIp
– Passion MLB (@passion_mlb) March 29, 2024
– The issue continues to be the talk of the town.
Colleague @FoyMarc spoke to Mario Cecchini, who says he’s outraged by accusations that the QMJHL doesn’t respect French | JDQ https://t.co/ouJMXjaxZP
– Kevin Dubé (@KDubeJDQ) March 29, 2024
When we cover the #QMJHL, we talk about hockey in French every day.
With players, coaches, GMs, agents, scouts, public relations people, staff and so on.
A lot more effective than a jersey for keeping the language alive. A little perspective please. https://t.co/SRavVX1Qcc
– Guillaume Lepage (@GLepageLNH) March 29, 2024
– What’s wrong with the Flyers?[[BPM Sports]
– Big playoff game for him.
Owen Beck in Game One of the #OHLPlayoffs:
3 primary assists (including the GWG)
14/26 on draws (54%)
2nd star of the game#SAGvsOS | #GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/9I5LrpuEvt– Ontario Hockey League (@OHLHockey) March 29, 2024