Panthers HC Paul Maurice turns heads addressing Sam Bennett's controversial hit on Anthony Stolarz    

Paul Maurice and the Florida Panthers had a disappointing performance in Game 1 of their second-round series with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Florida started out slow, and it came back to bite them, falling 5-4 in Toronto on Monday night despite a third-period comeback effort. The key talking point one day later has not been the outcome of the game but rather the collision where Sam Bennett ran into goaltender Anthony Stolarz.

Stolarz was forced to exit the game and underwent a scary journey in the aftermath, which included leaving on a stretcher and a trip to the hospital. He's now been released from the hospital and rejoined his team; however, that hasn't stopped the talk about the controversial play.

Panthers head coach Paul Maurice was asked about the Bennett-Stolarz collision on Tuesday morning. TSN shared the full video of his response on X (formerly Twitter).

"Like we're six games into the playoffs, and he took a puck outside the crease, and now he's a villain. But I expected that when I got up this morning. There were far more egregious collisions in that game last night, but we won't be talking about those. Honest to God, I’ve seen every hit that Sam Bennett's thrown since he was 12 years old on TV this morning. Go ahead, run it, puck's gonna drop," Maurice said.

Paul Maurice signed a multi-year contract extension to remain with the Panthers back in October, but the team did not provide any of the financial information.

Paul Maurice called himself out for his team's poor start to Game 1

Paul Maurice was very honest in his postgame comments on Monday night.

The Panthers' head coach was asked about his team's performance following the game. Reporter Will Manso shared his response on X.

"It was the perfect storm of that's not the way you wanna start when everybody's got lots of energy and jump. We didn't look like ourselves," Maurice said.

He was then asked what he attributed the sloppy start to.

"Coaching. That's what I do," Maurice added.

Florida was outscored 4-1 and outshot 18-13 through the first 40 minutes of play. They responded, winning the third period by a 3-1 margin while having a 16-12 edge in shots, though it wasn't enough to make up for the slow start.

Maurice and the Panthers will look to get back to their winning ways and tie the series up at one in Game 2 on Wednesday night in Toronto. The puck drops at 7 p.m. EST at Scotiabank Arena.