Panthers vs. Lightning: Playoff Rivalry Intensifies

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Transcript

00:00uh here is of course uh paul maurice the panthers and the lightning know each other very well

00:05over the past couple seasons they faced each other now for the third straight year in the

00:09playoffs uh the panthers uh kind of faded down the stretch they did not play well

00:14to finish out the season here's maurice talking about that there's been some kind of narrative

00:20on tv about how there's the first lesson in life

00:24turn it off there's there's been some kind of narrative about the end of the season

00:31looking like you guys are limping into the playoffs yeah i mean what do you have to say about that and

00:38this is how you actually play it's true if you play nine games in 15 days on three sets of back-to-backs

00:44you're going to get a little banged up and you're not going to have much gas at all so we had actually

00:49built that into our mindset and i'm talking about staff and decisions that we would make

00:54how hard we would run players how many minutes they would play some things like that knowing that we

01:00we had to manage the year here this year and it had nothing to really nothing to do with last season or

01:05how much we played our fitness numbers at camp i had nothing to do with that that wasn't an issue

01:10we just knew that i think we had 20 of our last 44 games were on the front end of the back end of

01:18back to back so we had to manage it yeah whatever look you know look on the bright side i like paul a

01:25lot he's been good to me over the years uh he's got a stanley cup ring that's it who cares about

01:30anything else he already got it we got his name on the stanley cup like they're either going to get

01:35it done here against the lightning or they aren't uh they went to two straight finals is that not good

01:40enough for everybody like um you know media people asking him stupid questions whatever you know you

01:46got a ring like this whatever you say genius uh these these reporters asking him questions about

01:53how tired they are and everything else i've heard that now didn't they say the first year they went

01:59and the next year that they'd be tired they played so much hockey then they won the stanley cup

02:03now they're saying oh it's three years in a row just so tired by the way city scored in the 94th

02:09minute and they're up 2-1 on villa they're gonna beat them at any odd

02:13uh as of for tonight the lightning uh are the favorites at home in game number one i got them

02:21now up to minus 125 plus 105 for the panthers and a five and a half look i don't trust uh matt

02:30kachuk's groin uh you know he's skating he's he's feeling okay they're gonna let him warm up and see

02:38if he can go like if i have to ask all these questions i don't trust him in a seven game series

02:44right now with that groin it's not gonna get any better even though it's been since the four nations

02:49right so they're hoping he's gonna be okay ekblad can't play they're playing in a place and i'm just

02:56gonna say it this team tampa they are i'd say top two in the league at home right so i like them

03:04tonight at that price i got them at minus uh you had them at minus 118 right there minus a buck 20

03:10i like the lightning at home tonight they're one of the best home teams in the league i don't buy

03:15home ice anymore in stanley cup playoffs unless the team is so dominant like the la kings and the

03:24lightning when they play on their home ice so dominant that they never lose that's when you say

03:29okay that's a tough building to play in but when you're like whatever 10 games over 500 at home that's

03:37good but when you win every single game at home but like five that's really good

03:43yeah i'm in on the lightning tonight as well i i think they're gonna win and i i think that

03:50they're not gonna play kachuk it really doesn't sound like he's quite ready uh i i think that

03:56they're gonna be holding him out a little bit for maybe he'll pull the hero thing and he'll go out

04:00there tonight um i don't think marchand has really gelled with them yet he has only played what nine

04:06he's gonna run out of there in the offseason