Why Paul Maurice Believes Bruins-Panthers Games Are ‘Awesome’

BOSTON -- The Panthers lead the Bruins 2-1 in the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Boston bested Florida in the regular season meetings, sweeping all four games and keeping the Panthers off the board on their 11 power play opportunities in those matchups.

The Panthers have flipped the script and outscored the Bruins 12-3 in the last two games of the playoffs, including five power-play goals.

"I think the difference between success and failure is so small, that it's almost not measured," Maurice told reporters after the Panthers' Game 3 victory over the Bruins at TD Garden. "There isn't a piece that I would say clearly, 'We're better than this.'

"As a matter of fact, the four Bruins games were our four best games in some ways, and we lost them. But they came and played playoff hockey and so did we."

Three of the four regular-season contests between the two clubs were decided by one goal, and the fourth by two. This is quite the opposite of the three games in the best-of-seven series so far, which saw each team win by four or more goals. Maurice encourages hockey fans, regardless of team allegiance, to watch as many Bruins-Panthers games they can.

"If I'm paying money this year, I would say come to the Bruins when the Bruins and the Panthers play," Maurice said. "That's heavy and fast and mean and awesome. It's the way the game could be played."

Maurice did add the losses to the Bruins were probably the only times he didn't walk off the bench in a bad mood.

"I don't walk off the bench many nights after a loss in a particularly good mood," he said. "But, I walked off the bench after each of those games going, 'Man, that was a hell of a game.' So, in the regular season, we were fine. It was very, very tight."

The Bruins and Panthers will meet in a pivotal Game 4 on Sunday night at TD Garden. The game will air on TBS, and NESN will carry an hour of pre- and postgame coverage.