BOSTON — Paul Maurice didn’t want to do it. He didn’t like to do it.
But after a Game 1 loss to the Boston Bruins, Maurice had to make proud Florida Panthers lifer Aaron Ekblad the star on the next day’s video session.
You can bet his three first-period giveaways were on it, including the defenseman’s meatball that led to a breakaway for the Bruins’ David Pastrnak breakaway and another turnover that led to Panthers forward Sam Reinhart’s penalty. And you know his second-period turnover that led to a goal was on there, as well as Brandon Carlo’s back-breaking goal, on which Ekblad screened Sergei Bobrovsky.
“He’s not very happy with me in the morning skate the next day,” Maurice said after Florida took a 2-1 series lead over the Bruins on Friday night. “I was not unkind. I was honest. I wasn’t trying to make a point. But he’s still proud, man.”
Ekblad knew he and partner Gustav Forsling had an atypically rough game, but he didn’t love being the star of the show the next day.
Maurice tried to protect him after that Game 1, predicting he’d bounce back.
He sure did in Game 2’s Panthers win in South Florida, and he and Forsling were absolute rockstars in Game 3.
But to show you how proud Ekblad is, in the final few minutes of Game 2, Maurice tiptoed behind Ekblad and gave him a shot on the shoulder.
“I can’t use the words I said, but, ‘That was pretty good,’” Maurice said. “I can’t use the words that he used, but he said, ‘What did ya expect?’ So. good for him. I like that. God, I like that a lot. His last two games were played like a leader. Didn’t like his game (in Game 1). He came to the rink with a snarl, and he’s been good since.”
That surprised no one. Ekblad may only be 28, but it feels like a century since he was the No. 1 pick in the draft 10 years ago. Among Panthers defensemen in the regular season, he ranks first with 676 career games played, first with 115 goals, first with 232 assists, first with 347 points, first with 41 power-play goals, first with 24 game-winning goals, second with a plus-85 and fourth with 452 penalty minutes. In the playoffs, again among defensemen, it’s second with 48 games, second with 105 hits and first with 64 blocked shots.
“It’s playoffs. It’s one of those where you might not like a game that you have. Those games are over. You wash it,” fellow defenseman Brandon Montour said Saturday. “He did a good job of that. These last two games really showed defensively how sound he is. We’re a better team when Aaron’s on the ice and happy he’s turned it pretty quick there. Didn’t like his one game, but I think our whole team … liked his last two, so we build on that.”
The Panthers scratched Nick Cousins for Game 3. (Kim Klement Neitzel / USA Today)
Maurice had to make a difficult decision Friday night with the return of Sam Bennett from a hand injury. Somebody had to come out of Florida’s lineup, but Maurice had been pleased with the fourth line of Nick Cousins, Steven Lorentz and Kyle Okposo, and Kevin Stenlund had been playing well on the third line.
At Friday’s morning skate, Maurice called over Cousins, Lorentz and Okposo, explained to them that he didn’t know for certain yet if Bennett would return in Game 3 but he expected him to and, if so, one of them would have to come out.
“I told them the truth. I told them how unfair that was,” Maurice said.
In the end, Cousins was the guy tapped.
“Cousins was tough because he’s a big part of it,” Maurice said. “And I worry about taking a player like Nick out because of the impact that has on the room because he’s so popular. But there’s a speed function to it. Lorentz is a very quick big man who can get in and get on the forecheck. The real decider was that he’s a center iceman.
“So Sam Bennett comes back in, and he’s fine to play, but if his game isn’t right … missing the games that he’s missed in the playoffs, you don’t know what you’re gonna get. So you get into the game and you go, ‘Sam’s not there. What do I do?’ I needed a center is what I’m trying to say.
“Okposo is built for this series — specifically for this series. He’s heavy. He’s smart. He can get hit on the walls. He throws a huge hit in Game 2 on the game-winning goal. And Stenlund’s last three games have been fantastic for us, just fantastic. So that’s why. It was not easy. And I agonized over it because of the human part of it. Everybody loves this guy. I do, too. Like he’s just got a great personality, and I gotta take him out of the playoffs.”
Maurice also admitted he was distressed because this is a contract year for Cousins.
“This is all important,” Maurice said. “It’s a sacrifice for our team that we asked him to make, and it was not easy.”
Odds and ends
It’s a not a surprise because all teams check their opponents’ best players hard in the playoffs, but the Bruins looked to especially try to get under Aleksander Barkov’s skin in Game 3, starting with Brad Marchand trying to persuade the Panthers captain to fight him on the opening draw. Later in the game, Morgan Geekie head-locked Barkov behind the net, then checked him well after he passed the puck for an interference penalty.
Barkov skated away from everything, and by game’s end had another multi-point game.
“He’s such a horse and I think if anything he would just be confused why someone was trying to do that,” left wing Carter Verhaeghe said, smiling. …
The Panthers took the day off in Boston and were expected to have a team bonding exercise at a local college.
(Top photo of Pat Maroon and Aaron Ekblad: Maddie Meyer / Getty Images)
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Courtesy : https://theathletic.com/5486418/2024/05/11/aaron-ekblad-panthers-bruins-snarl/