The Florida Panthers are on a mission to win their third championship in a row, and they still have the team to do so. There's no doubt that this team has become a dynasty, and if they're able to get back to the Stanley Cup Final again, it should be no question of what they've been able to accomplish over the past few years.
Though it may seem easy to the Panthers, in reality, it's grueling to make these long runs every year. Head coach Paul Maurice was asked how the team is able to still get up and compete every day for a chance to win championship after championship, and he kept it short and simple.
“It’s a great question,” Maurice said via of The Athletic. “And it’s one we talked about in our room: Where’s your energy source?”
For the players, they simply love winning, and it's fun for them. When you've won as much as them over the past few years, it makes sense.
“Everybody here likes coming to work,” Maurice said. “We want to work harder than anybody else, if we can. And then we want to try to have more fun than anybody else. If you do the first, you get to do the second fairly easily.”
Funny thing is that the Panthers still feel like they're getting started when it comes to winning. If they're able to keep this up, it will almost feel like the old days of the Boston Celtics or the Los Angeles Lakers when it was always them winning NBA titles. At some point, other teams around the league will have what it takes to bring them down, but looking at recent history, nobody stands a chance.
The closest team to the Panthers right now is the Edmonton Oilers, and they still can't get over the hump.
