Then came the rant, then the Toronto rally, then a stunning win over a record-setting Boston team in Round 1, then ousting Toronto in Round 2. Year 1 could have been a disaster Florida was thisssss close to not making the playoffs. That was daunting enough then came a serious roster shakeup in the trade for Matthew Tkachuk, followed by a run of injuries that obviously nobody saw coming. Change the approach, change the playing style, and turn a regular-season juggernaut into a real playoff contender. Zito’s offer was wild: Take over a team that just had the best regular season in the NHL, only to sputter in the second round of last year’s playoffs, and help change everything. “I guess it was a job interview,” Maurice said. He knows when to be serious and sarcastic, doesn’t mind taking a few minutes to tell a story, and cringes when anyone tries to give him the credit for Florida’s success. He drew hysterical laughter in a postgame interview when chiding the media for not believing in the Panthers (and with a few choice profanity drops in there as well). (“I know nothing about goaltending,” Maurice says, and he’s not kidding.) He famously says he doesn’t even coach Sergei Bobrovsky. Maurice isn’t a control freak the locker room belongs to the players, with a bit of guidance from the coaches’ office when needed. The funny ones happen with far more regularity. He knows what to do and he tells us the right thing.” He’s the guy we trust, the guy we believe and love playing for. “He literally knows every situation, how to handle it. “He’s coached probably over 2,000 games in the NHL,” Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov said, coming close but slightly overshooting Maurice’s total of 1,871 games including playoffs. The Panthers won that night, kick-starting their push to the playoffs and they haven’t stopped kicking since.
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