SUNRISE, Fla. – The 2,000-game club is set to get its second member.
When the Florida Panthers host the Seattle Kraken at Amerant Bank Arena on Tuesday, Paul Maurice will join Scotty Bowman, who was behind the bench for 2,141 games during his Hall of Fame career, as just the second head coach in NHL history to reach that milestone.
Since joining the Panthers prior to the start of the 2022-23 season, Maurice has coached the team to a 175-119-21 record and the franchise’s first two Stanley Cups in 2024 and 2025.
Taking a moment to reflect on the ups and downs, Maurice wouldn’t change a thing.
“This has been an incredible experience,” Maurice said of his career, which began in 1995. “I do have a pretty good spectrum of emotions in my career: tensions, pressures, darkness, light, extreme sadness, incredible joy. I do get flashes of it when you allow yourself to.”
In terms of all-time motivators, you’d be hard-pressed to find better than Maurice.
“Probably the best coach I have ever had in terms of the whole game; speeches, motivation, the X’s-and-O’s,” forward Evan Rodrigues said. “I think the most impressive part is his ability to read a room and give us exactly what we need, whether it’s a kick in the (butt) or kind of letting us go. It’s a huge accomplishment. Looking forward to it.”
Maurice won’t be alone in celebrating a milestone tonight.
Coming a long way since being selected by the Panthers with the first-overall pick in the 2014 NHL Draft, defenseman Aaron Ekblad will take the ice for the 800th game of his career.
A franchise cornerstone, he’s logged 405 points (121G, 284A) in his career to date.
"It's been an amazing, wonderful ride, and I can't wait to continue it,” Ekblad said.
With the Panthers dealing with yet another string of injuries, Noah Gregor was recalled from the AHL this morning and is expected to suit up against the Kraken. The 27-year-old veteran forward has played in 24 games with Florida this season, producing a goal and two assists.
Taking a look at their long list of injuries, the back-to-back Stanley Cup champions are currently trudging ahead without Aleksander Barkov, Niko Mikkola, Uvis Balinskis, Mackie Samoskevich, Brad Marchand, Anton Lundell, Sam Reinahrt, Jonah Gadjovich and Cole Schwindt.
For updates on several of those injuries, click HERE.
Fresh off shutting out the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday to move into a tie with Curtis Joseph for seventh place on the NHL’s all-time wins list (454), Sergei Bobrovsky will start tonight.
Over his last four starts, the two-time Vezina Trophy winner has gone 3-1-0 with a .922 save percentage.
Going the wrong direction in their playoff push, the Kraken enter tonight’s matchup with a 31-29-9 record and sitting four points out of a wild-card spot in the Western Conference.
Over the last 10 games, Seattle has gone 3-7-0.
Watching their losing streak reach three games, the Kraken suffered a 5-2 loss at Columbus in their last outing on Saturday. Vince Dunn and Kaapo Kakko scored the lone goals against the Blue Jackets, who raced out to a 3-0 lead in the first period and never looked back.
Jordan Eberle leads Seattle in scoring with 49 points (22G, 27A), with Matty Beniers (44 points) and Chandler Stephenson (41 points) not too far behind. Expected to appear in his 1,000th NHL game tonight, Adam Larsson has tallied 19 points (5G, 14A) from the blue line.
With no starter announced at the time of this writing, Joey Daccord and Philipp Grubauer have both seen ample time in Seattle’s net this season. Daccord owns a 19-18-5 record with a .901 save percentage, while Grubauer has gone 12-9-3 with a .909 save percentage.
Completing their whole season series in a little over a week, the Kraken earned a 6-2 win in their first meeting with the Panthers at Climate Pledge Arena on March 15. Kakko led the charge for Seattle with a goal and two assists, while Daccord stopped 23 of 25 shots in the cage.
Eetu Luostarinen and Vinnie Hinostroza lit the lamp for the Panthers.
“We just felt we were very, very slow,” Maurice said of the loss. “We had some faster players out, but we felt as a team that we were slow. List up your factors: long flight, all that kind of stuff, whatever. We just as a group would need to be much faster with how we move, how we move together and how direct we are in this game. We need to play a better style.”
THEY SAID IT
“Things haven’t been very easy for us. It’s been a hard year. You win two (Stanley Cups), then you just start taking hits the entire year. Nobody’s happy. It’s dark after a game. But they roll into rink, come to work, and treat each other the exact same way that they did when things were good.” – Paul Maurice on battling through this season’s adversity
“Just continue to develop our game. I think continue to play the way we play and not think too much of it. Just kind of go out and play.” – Evan Rodrigues on the home stretch
FIVE CATS STATS
- Paul Maurice’s 950 wins behind the bench rank third in NHL history.
- Carter Verhaeghe has recorded five 20-goal seasons as a Panther.
- Dmitry Kulikov is three assists away from his 200th NHL assist.
- Evan Rodrigues has scored a team-high eight goals in the first period.
- Matthew Tkachuk has recorded seven multi-point games this season.
PROJECTED LINEUP (SUBJECT TO CHANGE)
Forwards
Eetu Luostarinen – Evan Rodrigues – Jesper Boqvist
Carter Verhaeghe – Sam Bennett – Matthew Tkachuk
Cole Reinhardt – Tomas Nosek – Vinnie Hinostroza
Nolan Foote – Luke Kunin – Noah Gregor
Defensemen
Gustav Forsling – Aaron Ekblad
Dmitry Kulikov – Seth Jones
Donovan Sebrango – Mike Benning
Goaltenders
Sergei Bobrovsky
Daniil Tarasov
RECENT TRANSACTIONS
- March 24: F Noah Gregor recalled from Charlotte (AHL)
- March 15: F Nolan Foote recalled from Charlotte (AHL)
- March 12: D Mike Benning recalled from Charlotte (AHL)
HOW TO WATCH/LISTEN
When: Tuesday, March 24 at 7 p.m. ET
Where: Amerant Bank Arena – Sunrise, FL
TV & Streaming: WSFL, WHDT, WFTX, PanthersPlus.TV
Radio: 104.3 WQAM-FM/560 WQAM-AM (Dade/Broward); 106.3 WESP-FM (Palm Beach); 100.3 WCTH-FM (Florida Keys); 101.7 WCZR-FM (Treasure Coast); Panthers GameDay App; SiriusXM 221/App & Streaming 931
Tickets: Click here
