Maurice defends Leafs again: Character flaws 'just aren't true'

Florida Panthers head coach Paul Maurice once again came to the Toronto Maple Leafs' defense after his club ended their season in humiliating fashion in Game 7 on Sunday.

The Panthers smoked the Maple Leafs 6-1 in Toronto to advance to their third straight Eastern Conference Final, but Maurice credited the Atlantic Division winners afterward rather than piling on.

"This is a much better team than we played two years ago. Much better," Maurice said, per NHL.com's Dave McCarthy. "This team is in that group of teams like ours, there's maybe 11 this year, then there's eight that have a chance. They're one of those teams. You're going to assign a whole bunch of character flaws that just aren't true."

The Panthers also won 6-1 in Game 5 in Toronto. After the Leafs bounced back to win Game 6, Maurice said the club didn't deserve to get "killed" for its previous performance.

Toronto's loss Sunday was its seventh straight Game 7 defeat and sixth since its current core was established. The contest was 0-0 after the first period, but the Panthers took over with a three-goal middle frame.

"We score the goal, and it's just a puck to the net," Maurice said. "It's so much closer than you think, but you are going to kill those guys, and they don’t deserve it.

"Before the puck dropped tonight, there were five teams left in the NHL. Five, all of them capable of winning. The puck went our way tonight. That's it."

The Maple Leafs haven't reached an Eastern Conference Final since 2002 and won only their second series since 2004 this postseason. Maurice, who coached Toronto from 2006 to 2008, said the pressure on Maple Leafs players is unlike any other market.

"What's great for the league is hard for the Toronto Maple Leafs and their players," he noted. "The passion for the Maple Leafs, the scrutiny that these men are under, is why everybody else gets paid so much. It's a driver, but there's a cost to it for them. There's a challenge. You can hit one out of the park here, and you're never buying lunch again the rest of your life. But there's a cost for these guys, for their families when you lose a game like this."