Panthers, Heat supporting one another with conference finals on tap

SUNRISE, Fla. --Paul Maurice admits to knowing practically nothing about basketball, beyond the fact that the game is played 5-on-5.

That didn't stop the Florida Panthers coach from wearing a Miami Heat T-shirt when he addressed the media Wednesday before his team flew out of Fort Lauderdale for Game 1 of its Eastern Conference Final against the Carolina Hurricanes at PNC Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Thursday (8 p.m. ET; TNT, CBC, SN, TVAS).

Maurice wore the shirt as a show of support for another South Florida team that is on a similar run to that of his own team. Panthers players also wore Heat T-shirts when they boarded the plane to North Carolina on Wednesday.

The Panthers entered the playoffs as the second wild card from the East, the lowest seed in the conference; the Heat entered the NBA playoffs as the No. 8 seed in the East. Each now finds itself one series win away from its respective final.

"I know as much about basketball as I do about goaltending," Maurice said. "I know it's fun to watch. I'm not sure what the [heck] they're doing, but it's 5-on-5, right? I get that. But there's a connection now between the two teams through sports fans down here. So, there's hockey fans that are probably like me, but now they're dialed into that because it's just a great story.

"And it's fun to be a part of it, right? We're both going to try to do our half, (and) wouldn't it be unbelievable in two weeks if we were both still playing? Craziness in this town, right?"

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The similarities between the Panthers and Heat extend beyond their place in the standings this season because each team was the top seed in its conference last season.

Florida, which won the Presidents' Trophy for having the best regular-season record (58-18-6) last season, defeated the Washington Capitals in the Eastern Conference First Round before losing to the Tampa Bay Lightning in the second round; Miami (53-29) reached the Eastern Conference Finals before losing to the Boston Celtics, the team they're facing again this year.

"It just shows it doesn't matter what your team has done in years past," Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk said. "Doesn't matter what they've done in the season leading up to it if you get going at the right time, that's always the team that you'd want to be."

Captain Aleksander Barkov says he's been a "huge fan" of the Heat since he arrived in South Florida after the Panthers made him the No. 2 pick in the 2013 NHL Draft.

He's got himself a big fan too, in Heat center Bam Adebayo, who called Barkov his favorite Panthers player. Barkov was asked how he would picture Adebayo on skates.

"It's like Chara," Barkov said, referencing the 6-foot-9 former NHL defenseman Zdeno Chara. "Good defensive player. Probably has a bomb (of a shot) too. That's awesome."

Barkov also finds it awesome that the Panthers and Heat each are among the final four in their league after South Florida was the only market with an NHL and NBA team among the final eight in their respective leagues.

"Yeah, it's amazing," Barkov said Monday. "I try to follow them as much as possible and I know that every year they have a good group that can go all the way and, yeah, I'm really happy for them and I really hope they're going to make the Finals too."

For South Florida sports fans, the schedule for the NHL and the NBA couldn't have worked out better because the Panthers and Heat will be playing on alternate nights starting Wednesday with Game 1 of the Miami-Boston series.

"I get really interested in sports when you get to this time of year," Maurice said. "Part of it is just the fan, the spectacle of it, right? Well, it's the Masters (golf), I'll watch that. But the local kind of team, I think it's just really cool that we're both doing this and then we get to play on opposite nights. So, the only thing better than coaching on these two teams would be like owning a sports bar, right? That would be better because you are on a roll right now.

"I do think that you kind of raised the energy level of sports fans in your market. So, if one team is going, then they're all into it and now that you've got two teams cooking and it's at the most pressure-filled time of year, it's really exciting."