Florida Panthers head coach Paul Maurice's impressive resume is missing a Stanley Cup championship, but Carter Verhaeghe hopes to help change that Saturday night.
"If we can win it for anyone, we wanna win it for him," the forward said, according to The Associated Press' Stephen Whyno.
A veteran of 1,848 regular-season games over 26 campaigns, Maurice ranks fourth all time in wins (869) by a bench boss in league history.
He also owns a record of 69-64 in the playoffs and has led Florida to back-to-back appearances in the Stanley Cup Final during his first two seasons in the Sunshine State.
The Panthers fell short last spring, falling to the Vegas Golden Knights in five games. Now, they're one win away from their first championship in franchise history after stuffing the Edmonton Oilers into a 3-0 hole.
Maurice was raring to go while doing his best to stay centered with puck drop mere hours away.
"(I'm) probably not quite as calm as it looks; the feet are flying underneath this table. ... We have to keep this in context, right?" he said, per Sportsnet. "What is it, 11 in the morning? My brain is gonna shift pretty hard here in about four hours. ... But I've been selling 'Enjoy your day' for two years here and probably before that, and I believe it. I've had enough of the other days that aren't good.
"I'm damn well gonna enjoy the morning skate on a day like today. I refuse not to be in a good mood. ... If you can't enjoy this morning, what the hell are you doing? Like, what's the point of this?"
The Panthers know they'll be facing a desperate Oilers team looking to keep its season alive. Connor Brown said Saturday that Edmonton has "held the play" for the bulk of the series despite the deficit, but Verhaeghe shrugged off his opponent's comments.
"We don't focus on what they say," he said, per ESPN's Greg Wyshynski. "They can say whatever they want. We're just focusing on what we have to do."
Game 4 is set for 8 p.m. ET.
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Toronto Maple Leafs assistant coach Guy Boucher won't be returning to his post next season, the team announced Saturday.
Boucher was in charge of Toronto's power play in 2023-24 after being hired by the team last July.
The Maple Leafs owned the league's seventh-best unit in the regular season with a 24% conversion rate but struggled mightily in the playoffs, scoring just once on 21 opportunities during their first-round loss to the Boston Bruins.
Before Boucher, Spencer Carbery ran Toronto's power play for two seasons. Under his direction, the Leafs owned the league's top unit in 2021-22 and the second-best outfit in 2022-23.
Boucher was previously the bench boss of the Ottawa Senators from 2016-19, helping the team make the Eastern Conference Final in 2017.
Toronto fired head coach Sheldon Keefe in May, replacing him with Craig Berube. The 2019 Stanley Cup champion brought in Lane Lambert as an associate coach earlier in June.
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Oilers superstar Leon Draisaitl has yet to register a point in the Stanley Cup Final, but he has the support of head coach Kris Knoblauch ahead of Edmonton's must-win Game 4 on Saturday night.
"I've seen Leon obviously play better, but to say he's playing poorly, I think, is vastly unfair," the bench boss said. "I think he's helping a lot, but like our team, everyone can be a little bit better. He takes a lot of pride in his game, he doesn't hide anything, he doesn't make excuses. ... He's been pretty, pretty good in pretty much every game that I've seen him play."
Draisaitl was dominant through the first three rounds of the postseason, amassing 10 goals and 28 points in 18 outings. He's since been stymied by the Florida Panthers and netminder Sergei Bobrovsky, but it's not for a lack of trying. Draisaitl has fired nine shots on net and 16 shots at all strengths in the series, per Natural Stat Trick.
Knoblauch called Draisaitl "the catalyst" on Ryan McLeod's goal in Game 3, though he didn't earn a point on the play.
"It's not too often Leon's held off the scoresheet like he has been," he said. "But I think he has been contributing. ... Sometimes it's not fair to just judge a player on his points, his goals and assists."
Draisaitl was critical of his own play following Edmonton's loss Thursday that put the team on the brink of elimination, saying he had to "look in the mirror and try to be better."
The Oilers' quest to stay alive will get a bit easier if Draisaitl finds a way to break through, but Knoblauch knows they're in for a "challenge" as they try to climb out of a 3-0 hole.
"If there's a group of men that I want to do this with, it's the guys in that room," he said. "From what I've seen through this season, how resilient they are, their perseverance, their focus, their attitude. I'm really excited for the next 10 days."
Puck drops on Game 4 at 8 p.m. ET.
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