Panthers HC Confident in Come Back

Despite blowing a two-goal lead in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final against the Edmonton Oilers, Florida Panthers coach Paul Maurice is confident in his team's ability to fight back and win the series.

"There isn't any casualness and there's no BS in either team's game," Maurice said to reporters in the post-game press conference. "The pucks go deep that are supposed to go deep. I think we had one all might we didn't like, maybe two all night that we didn't like our decision on the line."

"They didn't fool around with it, either. It was honest, it was hard, it was fast and it was tight. It has the potential to be just a spectacular seven-gamer,” Maurice said.

Maurice said the team will comfort Tomas Nosek, who caused the penalty in overtime which led to the game-winning power play. It was Nosek who drilled the puck over the glass from his defensive zone that caused the Oilers to have an extra man on the ice.

"It's a tough break, Maurice said of Nosek's blunder. "So we will just make sure he doesn't eat alone tonight. He's got lots of people sitting at his table and reminding him how good he has been. It's going to be tough. He's going to eat that for one day."

Nosek will be reminded he has played superbly on the fourth-line and was especially effective against Toronto in the second round on special teams. Ironically, Nosek is one of the better penalty killers on the Panthers squad.

"We'll remind him of that a whole bunch of times before the puck drops for Game 2 Friday night," Maurice said. "You remind him after the game of being down two nothing to Toronto,” he said, referencing Florida’s come from behind victory over the Maple Leafs in the Eastern Conference semifinals.

The Panthers lost the first two games of that series before winning the series in seven games.

Bennett, who scored twice on Wednesday night, said the Panthers learned a lot from the loss.

"I think just not let up, don't sit back," Bennett said. "We've been really good all year at not sitting back with the lead. For whatever reason, we sat back a little bit."

Bennett also reminded reporters there is still a lot of hockey left to play.

"It's gonna be a long series. i don't think we expected this to be easy," Bennett said. "So you can learn some things from tonight, and then we're just going to move on."

Forward Brad Marchand is taking the same approach.

"It's one game," Marchand said. "You can't get stuck in the past here. So, we will regroup, refocus and get ready for the next one."

The two teams will face off in Game 2 on Friday night at Rogers Centre in Edmonton. The puck will drop at 8 pm ET.