Paul Maurice Offers On-Brand Reaction To Brad Marchand’s Fight

It was a good start to the Eastern Conference finals for Brad Marchand and the Florida Panthers, but the Carolina Hurricanes didn’t go down without a fight.

Florida took a 1-0 series lead after a 5-2 win at Lenovo Center on Tuesday. It was natural for Carolina to feel frustrated to drop Game 1 at home, but things escalated after Marchand tried to check Shayne Gostisbehere into the boards.

The Hurricanes defenseman appeared to target the former Boston Bruins captain with a slap shot in his own zone. That’s certainly what Marchand thought when he immediately confronted Gostisbehere. They didn’t hesitate to throw hands in the third period, and officials had to pull Marchand off Gostisbehere after the 37-year-old dropped him to the ground.

Marchand received a misconduct and was tossed from the game. Did head coach Paul Maurice have a take on the brawl?

“Yeah, I’ve got one, but I’m keeping that to myself,” Maurice told reporters, per TSN Sports. “Take your time. Just hang onto that. Just drag it right across the blue line. I’m not biting on it.”

The Panthers were up 4-1 after the fight and were in control of the matchup, so Marchand’s ejection didn’t hurt Florida. It did serve as a great tone-setter for the best-of-seven series as the Hurricanes try to even up the series Thursday.