It was a good night for the Florida Panthers on Tuesday in Raleigh.
Florida opened the 2025 Eastern Conference Final against the Carolina Hurricanes with an impressive 5-2 victory at Lenovo Center, taking a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.
One of the most exciting plays of the evening for Florida was the goal scored by A.J. Greer off a rush with Niko Mikkola and Tomas Nosek.
A play that Mikkola started in the defensive end quickly transitioned into a rush opportunity, and after a couple quick passes, Greer was scoring what wound up as the game-winning goal.
But as Panthers Head Coach Paul Maurice explained after the game, the goal came on a play that he would rather not see made, and the bench had some fun at his expense as a result of it.
Now bear with me, as I hope most (if not all) of you get this pop culture reference.
In the movie “Major League,” there is a part where outfielder Willie Mays Hayes makes a fancy catch and when he gets back to the dugout, as he’s being congratulated by teammates, his manager Lou Brown gives him a high five and says, “Nice catch Hayes, don’t ever f---ing do it again.”
Yeah, that was Maurice on the Panthers bench after the Greer goal.
"I was mocked heavily on the bench for that goal. Heavily," Maurice said. "There's a wonderful inside play to Mikkola at line, which I abhor. We're going to do everything we can to never see that again."
Here's what happened.
As Mikkola rushed up the middle of the ice with Tomas Nosek, who had the puck through the neutral zone along the boards, Nosek decided to make a backhand pass to Mikkola as they crossed the blue line.
The pass crossed over a pair of Hurricanes’ sticks before landing perfectly on Mikkola’s tape, and he continued driving toward the net before making the pass to Greer.
NHL Goals (@nhl_goal_bot) on XFlorida goal!
Scored by A.J. Greer with 16:27 remaining in the 2nd period.
Assisted by Niko Mikkola and Tomas Nosek.
Carolina: 1
Florida: 3
#FLAvsCAR #RaiseUp #TimeToHuntNow, if Nosek's pass gets deflected or intercepted, suddenly you have a major problem heading back toward your goaltender, with at least three Panthers players having all their momentum going the wrong way.
“If you make those plays, you have to make it,” Nosek said with a smile. “If you don’t, then you’re in trouble, that’s for sure.”
Fortunately for Florida, that did not happen, and instead they scored a nice rush goal with some pretty passing included in the process.
It also allowed for some light moments on the bench, as the Panthers players were all well aware of how much their coach doesn't like to see passes like that.
"It was a wonderful play by Nosek," Maurice said, before adding, "that you're not going to see again."
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Photo caption: Feb 22, 2024; Raleigh, North Carolina, USA; Florida Panthers head coach Paul Maurice reacts from behind the bench during the second period against the Carolina Hurricanes at PNC Arena. Mandatory Credit: James Guillory-Imagn Images