It's an all
SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Paul Maurice doesn’t need any reminders going into these playoffs of what games between the Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning mean to both teams.
In the eyes of the Panthers’ coach, there were two clear examples this season. Florida led Tampa Bay 9-1 in the third period of a February game, and the Lightning skated hard all the way to the miserable end; Tampa Bay took a 4-0 lead midway through the teams’ next meeting a month later, and the Panthers nearly pulled off an improbable comeback.
His point: When these teams meet, it’s 60 minutes of grit, no matter what the scoreboard says.
“That’s what this series is going to be here,” Maurice said. “Neither team’s going to quit. It’s not going to be the score. It’s going to be pride, fight. It’s going to be an awesome series and you know it. There’s no quit in either room. If we’re all lucky, we can get it to seven games and overtime because that would be all the juice you can handle for a hockey season in one series.”