The Paul Maurice Effect: The true impact of Panthers coach - ESPN

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Tomas Nosek was experiencing every hockey player's worst nightmare.

It was overtime in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final, and the veteran fourth-line forward for the Florida Panthers was sitting in the box for a delay of game penalty after flipping a puck over the glass with 1:42 remaining in extra time. He could only watch helplessly from there as Edmonton's Leon Draisaitl scored the game winner on the ensuing power play.

That was a devastating moment for Nosek. The response from coach Paul Maurice was to ensure that the crushing feeling wouldn't linger.

«You just remind him after the game of being down 2-0 to Toronto [in the second round] when that [fourth] line came in and changed everything for us,» Maurice said in his postgame media availability. «And how we are not here [in the Final] without Tomas. It's a tough break. So, we'll 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's been to us.»

Nosek didn't see that kind of empathy coming. The 32-year-old has skated for five NHL clubs in his career and called the interaction with Maurice following his gaffe special compared to other dressing rooms.

«He's a tremendous person. He said some things that he didn't need to say, but he said it,» Nosek said. «And that's what makes him, for me, a really, really good coach and a really good person as well.»

Like Nosek, Maurice has journeyed around the league. It's at his sixth stop — behind the Panthers' bench — where he has created his finest work. It's not just that he has guided Florida to a third consecutive Cup Final, where the Panthers are vying for a second straight title after claiming the organization's first one 12 months ago.