Panthers Coach Makes Admission After Series Win Over Bruins

Paul Maurice knows the Panthers are fortunate to be moving on to the Eastern Conference finals.

To be clear, Florida earned an opportunity to compete for the conference crown. But after eliminating the Boston Bruins on Friday night at TD Garden, Maurice admitted some “luck” factored into his team winning the second-round series.

“There are too many possible inflection points when you look at Florida-Boston games,” Maurice told reporters, per a CLNS video. “For me to be that arrogant to sit here and say, ‘Well this is how we did it.’ (Expletive) have no idea, right? You can take the last six wins that we have and we could lose every single one of them. We could, it was that tight. They’re a hell of a team. It’s great hockey.”

Tensions grew pretty high across the six games between the Atlantic Division foes, and players probably won’t be sending Christmas cards to the opposition this winter. But remarks from Maurice and others on both sides made it clear there was a great deal of mutual respect between the Bruins and the Panthers.

Florida’s quest for the Cup will continue with a best-of-seven set against the New York Rangers. Game 1 is set for Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden.