SUNRISE, Fla. — Early Saturday morning, less than an hour after his team’s heartbreaking overtime loss, Paul Maurice was sitting at the podium at Madison Square Garden, craving a joke.
He said he hadn’t yet seen Barclay Goodrow’s winning goal because the Garden’s layout prevented the videographer from seeing it.
“I don’t know if he’s still working for us,” Maurice joked. “We have to send telegrams, so I can’t really see the finish line.”
That’s unusual after a 2-1 overtime loss in the conference finals.
But both Morris and the Panthers are perfectly happy with where they are in their series against the Rangers, which begins Game 3 in Florida on Sunday afternoon.
“Distraught isn’t the right word,” Maurice said. “We’re OK tonight. There’s no way we can beat a Presidents Trophy team two times in a row. There’s no way.”
The Panthers can be pleased with themselves, sharing a point at the Garden and playing strong games in both games.
They have yet to lose consecutive games in these playoffs and are 3-0 after losses.
And now playing on home ice and in control of their opponent, the Panthers seem confident in their position.
“I think after a loss you go out there with a little more focus and energy,” Nick Cousins said Saturday. “It’s the same thing tomorrow. We start in the early afternoon. After a loss, you want to bounce back quickly. We’re going to get a little rest today and then we’ll get on a plane and be ready for the home game.”
Unlike the Rangers after Game 1, Florida isn’t struggling to decide on its lineup.
Unlike the Rangers, the Panthers are pretty happy with their special teams.
And they managed to take home ice in Game 1, so for the Panthers, Friday night felt like they were playing for house money.
While the Rangers got back on track with a 74-minute, 1-second win, the Panthers weren’t far behind.
They played the same physical hockey as two nights ago, continuing to look strong in the bottom six and Aleksander Barkov continued to give the Rangers problems whenever he was on the ice.
“It was a pretty even game. I think it could have gone either way,” Cousins said. “In the end, we were lucky they played in overtime and we got it. I thought in the first 10 minutes they raised their level, they raised their intensity, they came at us hard. That’s what we expected.”
“I think we got better and better as the game went on. Now we’re back at home in front of our fans and we’ve got to use the crowd to our advantage.”
