Florida Panthers coach Paul Maurice: ‘We’ve made this series more physical than it needs to be’
On the morning of a critical Game 3 for the trailing Florida Panthers, coach Paul Maurice said his team has been maybe a little bit too physical against the Vegas Golden Knights.
The Panthers find themselves down 0-2 to the Golden Knights, with the Panthers hoping to win at home today and Saturday to extend the series and avoid a sweep. But after two blowout losses, which included over 80 penalty minutes for the Cats on Monday, Maurice said the team needs to adjust how they’re handling the physical aspect of the game.
“I think the Boston series was more physical than this series,” Maurice told the media. “I think we’ve made this series more physical than it needs to be. We had 22 hits in the first period of Game 2. Prorate that out and you don’t need 66 hits in a game.
“There’s an energy cost to that. We have hitters. You need to finish checks at times. But I don’t necessarily need Carter Verhaeghe having five [hits].”
In a tweet posted by Stathletes’ Meghan Chayka, it’s actually Vegas defenseman Alex Pietrangelo leading the way with an average physical contact number of 7.5 per game, taking into account blocked shots, steals and battles involving contact. Brandon Montour, Sam Bennett, Sam Reinhart and Aleksander Barkov are the Panthers with 5.0 or over, while William Carrier has 6.5 for the Golden Knights.
The Golden Knights won Game 2 by a score of 7-2, but misconduct penalties proved to be the name of the game. Matthew Tkachuk, who score for Florida, led the way with two. Casey Fitzgerald, Anthony Duclair, Eric Staal, Nick Cousins and Sam Reinhart all received 10-minute penalties for Florida. Reilly Smith, Brett Howden, Zach Whitecloud, Keegan Kolesar and Ivan Barbashev received one for Vegas.
In other news, Radko Gudas, a big, hulking blueliner that’s leading the way with 81 hits during the playoffs, is set to return for Game 3. He left Game 2 after a big hit from Barbashev early in the first period.
Puck drop for Game 3 is set for 8:00 PM ET, the same time for Game 4 on Saturday evening.