Panthers head coach Paul Maurice seems to have a story to tell about every player he’s ever coached or played against, but when it comes to trade deadline acquisition former Rangers player Vladimir Tarasenko, the story most worth telling happened while they were both on the opposing team’s bench in a playoff game.
It was in the first round of the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs, when Morris was the head coach of the Jets and the Jets faced Tarasenko’s Blues.
Winnipeg led 2-0 in Game 5 after the visiting teams won each of the first four games.
Maurice recalled how Blake Wheeler, now with the Rangers, broke through the wall.
And somehow, out of nowhere, Tarasenko caught up with him. The Blues scored three goals in the third period and won Game 6 to advance.
“There were two words in my head: ‘Fuck,'” Morris said Wednesday morning before his team’s 3-0 victory in Game 1 of the Rangers-Panthers’ conference finals series. he muttered, eliciting audible laughter from the media personnel in front of him.
“That’s my first memory, and there were holes in the ice on either side of the goalie and I didn’t want him to go in there. [there], if you’re an opposing coach, you don’t want him to have the puck because he takes it off incredibly quickly. What I didn’t know was that I didn’t know the guy. How much he loves the game and how much he loves talking about the game.
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“We feel like we’ve got the right people for him. [Aleksander] Barkov talks hockey throughout the game. [Sam] Rhinehart. A little play. That’s how I’m passionate about it. I think that’s what inspires him in the game and keeps him in the game and what makes him such a good player. ”
Tarasenko spent 82 days with the Rangers last season, and Blueshirts president and general manager Chris Drury arguably found a game-changer in the same vein as Maurice, acquiring him from St. Louis on Feb. 9.
Although the partnership didn’t work out as both parties expected, and the Rangers lost to the Devils in seven games in the first round, Tarasenko looks back fondly on his tenure in New York.
“I’ve met a lot of great people here,” said Tarasenko, who recorded three goals and one assist in seven playoff games with the Rangers. “I’ve made new friends. I’m not really thinking about it right now, you know, we have a series to play. I’m just making a lot of good memories.”
