Panthers coach Maurice fined $25k for comments about officiating vs. Leafs

Florida Panthers coach Paul Maurice was fined $25,000 by the NHL on Thursday for his comments about the officiating after his team's game against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

After the Panthers' 5-4 overtime loss to the Leafs on Tuesday in which he felt his team had questionable calls against it made by the officiating, Maurice told the media, “I just explained to them, it had nothing to do with my players; it had to do with me and a relationship that I have with one of the referees. That's what that was all about. So, just go out, keep your mouth shut, and play the game.”

Maurice also said, about his team's effort, “I’m proud of our guys here tonight. Like, they flew us out to the West Coast, flew us back, flew us home, flew us up here and back-to-back us, and then they threw those two guys at us. I think we hung in there pretty good. I'm proud of our group.”

The "two guys" he was referring to were referees Francois St-Laurent and Pierre Lambert. Maurice was fined $5,000 in 2016 when coaching the Winnipeg Jets for criticizing St-Laurent, who did not call a penalty on a hit to the head of centre Bryan Little.

Toronto had seven power plays on the night compared with Florida's three.

“Well, it'll always be penalties that you take in the game you earn, and there's a whole bunch of (penalties) you're not gonna like it all. I thought we had the inordinate share of those,” Maurice said. He added he didn't know "what the hell" the referees were doing with some of their calls.

Maurice, 55, is in his first season with the Panthers and 25th as a head coach in the league. He trails only New Jersey's Lindy Ruff for the most regular-season wins among active coaches.

The money from the fine will go to the NHL Foundation.

--with files from The Associated Press