Category: Sports News

The Florida Panthers can go ahead and file Saturday’s loss to the Washington Capitals away in deep, dark drawer.

No need to keep tabs on much of what happened during Florida’s 6-3 loss to the Caps.

Not after this post, anyway.

The defeat was a tough pill to swallow at the end of a frustrating road trip, but that’s all that it was.

Fortunately, the Panthers have endured bumps in the road like this before and come out on the other side just fine.

No reason to suspect that won’t be the case this time around.

Let’s get to Saturday’s takeaways.

UNPREPARED FOR THE RUSH

It’s no secret that the Capitals are a fast team that likes to create opportunities in transition and keep their opponents on their heels.

Florida has faced teams who play similar styles and shown that they can clog the neutral zone, limit time and space and keep the game on a more level plane.

That did not happen on Saturday.

It was clear from early on that the Capitals were dictating the style of play, and while Florida can keep up thanks to their very skilled players, playing the rush game generally isn’t a recipe for success when it comes to the Panthers.

As we saw, Florida’s usually rock-solid defending can get a little leaky when the game opens up.

“We had a really hard time with some of our rush reads, and then the creation of the rush as well, how we let them develop,” said Panthers Head Coach Paul Maurice. “A fast team, they made us pay pretty quick and tough to come back on. We had some tough reads, and that's the coach's job to make sure that everybody knows who they've got, so we'll work on it.”

NOT OVERLY CONCERNED

Looking over Florida’s recent collection of games, there isn’t much to feel great about with 12 games left until the playoffs.

Fortunately for the Cats, their current group is far from what will suit up when the postseason arrives.

Between missing players and their recent travel schedule, the Panthers have valid reasons for being a bit off their game lately.

The effort level remains high, as is the confidence that things will snap back into place.

“I'm not concerned about it,” Maurice said. “We've had some challenges, like in the first 50 games, finding that level. We’ve had a couple of tough nights here on this road trip. It's been six games, and we'd like to be .500 or better when you're on the road. We failed to do that, but we won't fold the season.”

MACKIE MOVED UP

When the game reached the third period, with Florida down 6-3, Maurice tried something with his forward lines.

Rookie Mackie Samoskevich was moved up to the Panthers top line, with Sasha Barkov and Sam Reinhart.

There is no denying the chemistry that has grown between Samoskevich and second line center Sam Bennett, and it’s a big part of why the youngster has seen his play elevated to another level in recent weeks.

Seeing how the electric youngster does when paired up with Florida’s most dynamic scorers seems like the logical next step in his freshman season progression.

“It’s something I've been playing with in my head, and at that point, it was something that I wanted to see,” Maurice said. “He's just been a really good player for us, and he's very creative with what he does. We were down by a whole bunch, so I wanted to just take a look at it.”

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ST. LOUIS – The tears and emotions started running early for Pat Maroon, and only the ‘Hometown Hero’ knew why before anyone else.

The 36-year-old and Oakville, Mo. native was set to play against the St. Louis Blues for the final time this season with the hated Chicago Blackhawks. The Blues are in a playoff race, and the Blackhawks are just playing out the string.

But was it just the final game against the Blues this season? Well, take a look. It was more than that.

Maroon spoke to former Blues and current Blackhawks color analyst Darren Pang during pregame of the Blues’ 4-1 win at Enterprise Center on Saturday and confirmed that this, his 14th NHL season, will be his last.

More than 840 regular-season games (125 goals, 195 assists), 163 playoff games (23 goals, 30 assists), a three-time – and three straight – Stanley Cup champion, including the first with the Blues in 2018-19, a career that began with the St. Louis Amateur Blues U18 midget squad in 2004-05 and playing for Jon Cooper with the St. Louis Bandits of the North American Hockey League in 2006-07 before being a sixth-round pick by the Philadelphia Flyers in the 2007 NHL Draft, Maroon, who signed a one-year, $1.3 million contract with the Blackhawks last summer, said this is it.

His career began with the Anaheim Ducks with stops with the Edmonton Oilers, New Jersey Devils, Blues, Tampa Bay Lightning, Minnesota Wild, Boston Bruins and Blackhawks.

“It’s been in the back of my head all year,” said Maroon, who ended the game in style with his 96th career fight in the third period with Blues defenseman Tyler Tucker. “I’ve given everything I have, and I want to go out on my own terms. I don’t want to be scratching and clawing for a contract, and them telling you you’re out. I wanted to leave on my own terms and when I was ready. I’m excited for my new chapter in life. Just going to finish hard. You guys know I play between the whistles and as hard as I can. Every time I get over the boards, it’s like my last shift ever. I’m going to continue to do that.

“My wife [Francesca] doesn’t want me to hang them up. She wants me to keep playing. It’s just the choice I had. I have no regrets in this game. I’ve given it everything. I’ve done everything. I achieved everything I could. St. Louis kid, growing up here, I was 352 games in the minors, and 840 games in the NHL right now. Who would’ve thought that? I’m just happy I got to win in my hometown, and go on to win two more. I’ve achieved everything I thought (I could). I probably overachieved sometimes. I was against all odds, and I beat the odds. I was always a person, I was self-motivated. I wanted to do it all on my own because (everyone) had doubt in me. Everyone doubted me, and I wanted to put that doubt in everyone else’s face.”

Word spread quickly that Maroon made his announcement on the Blackhawks broadcast. The Blues went into immediate production and threw together a video tribute showing the famous double-overtime goal against the Dallas Stars in the second round and a standing and loud ovation from a crowd appreciative of one of their own who helped bring the title to the Gateway City for the first time.

“I was shocked what the Blues did for me tonight,” Maroon said. “They didn’t have to do that. Obviously, I’ve been talking about it with my wife and my family. I’ve done everything I could in this league. I have no regrets. Just having a conversation with ‘Panger’, it kind of blew up. First, I wanted to thank the St. Louis Blues organization for really making this night really special for me and my family.

“Thank God they told me before the period started, so I was ready for it. The Blues didn’t have to do anything tonight. I was just playing a hockey game. Obviously, people got wind of it right away after I talked to ‘Panger’, and they really made it a special night for me. I can’t thank the Blues organization for doing that for me and my family tonight. Everyone was here tonight, so that made it really special.”

In front of his wife, parents and other family members on hand, Maroon took a stroll onto the ice, acknowledged the crowd and then again at game’s end when he was announced as the First Star of the game, taking a look around to soak it all in.

“A lot,” he said. “I looked a lot, especially during the national anthem and especially on the bench, TV timeouts. This city means a lot to me. The fanbase means a lot. The organization means a lot to me. Some of those guys that I won with mean a lot to me. I can’t thank them enough for helping me make tonight successful.”

That included Blues captain Brayden Schenn, a teammate and forever friend.

“He’s an incredible human, an incredible guy,” Schenn said. “A guy that really came in here and really helped embrace the locker room and become a huge piece on and off the ice of what this team is all about. Rightfully so, the crowd did him right, a guy that’s just grinded for everything that he’s got in his whole career. He’s a guy that plays hard minutes, he’s fought tough guys throughout his whole career playing at 36, 37 doing it the way he does. It’s definitely hat’s off to him.

“I don’t love seeing him in that jersey, I’m not going to lie, but being his last game here in St. Louis, obviously very emotional, talked to him after. When you win with guys, you care about guys quite a bit. Nice to see him and get a good salute tonight by the crowd and nice tribute by the Blues PR team.”

Maroon broke the heart of Blues coach Jim Montgomery, who was the coach of the Stars on that Game 7 on May 7, 2019 day in St. Louis but also had Maroon last season as coach of the Boston Bruins.

“I had the good fortune of coaching Pat Maroon in Boston last year and in the playoffs,” he said. “He is an exemplary and great teammate and he’s an incredibly intelligent hockey mind and player. He’s very underrated about how well he understands the game. He’s one of the best players at making plays off walls and breakouts at leading to 2-on-1s, and everybody knows how he sacrifices for the team. And on the bench, he made a huge impact for us in Boston because he brings energy, he lifts people up, he coaches people that he’s playing with. Sorry to see him retire, but what a career. A champion.”

That champion almost never materialized in St. Louis when the Blues nearly placed Maroon on waivers in what was amounting to an underachieving season that obviously quickly turned around, and Maroon became one of those galvanizing voices in a locker room that came together at the right time and stood above all else in June.

“I think he just does it with kind of understanding people, understanding the ebbs and flows of a season, and a guy that really knows has the way with words helping people along the way,” Schenn said of Maroon. “That team was just so tight, he’s just obviously another piece to everyone that being so close and he was definitely a ring leader with lots of laughs when you combine him with [Ryan] O’Reilly and [Tyler] Bozak, [Jaden] Schwartz, [Robert] Bortuzzo, the list goes on and on, right? A special person and obviously a friend for life.

“Without that (Game 7 goal), just a legendary goal, legendary celebration by the hometown kid. It’s obviously one of those memories you look back on, as that team, as life goes on, you have a lot of beers over, talk about memories and stuff like that with how everything went.”

Maroon’s playoff career is over. Depending on how many of the Blackhawks’ final 12 games he plays, will be it. So that last lap around Enterprise Center was one to store in the memory bank.

“It sucks. When I’m done here, I’m going to be a Blues fan,” Maroon said. “I’ll be coming to games, just like all the other alumni. It’s going to be fun coming back here and watching the Blues play. St. Louis kid get the opportunity to end on a high note, get the opportunity to actually play in St. Louis to end the year. It’s pretty remarkable. I couldn’t write a better script on how all this transpired today. I’m really happy, like I said, with the St. Louis Blues. I’m happy where I’m at. I’m content. Whatever happens in the next chapter, I’m just going to have to go do it again.”

The hometown hero ... #stlbluespic.twitter.com/g0VyducCvY

— Lou Korac (@lkorac10) March 22, 2025