Panthers head coach Paul Maurice seems to have an anecdote to share about every player he’s coached and coached against, but when it came to his trade-deadline pickup and ex-Ranger Vladimir Tarasenko, the story most worth telling took place during a time when they were on opposing benches in a playoff game.
It was the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs in 2019, when Maurice was the head coach of the Jets and they squared off with Tarasenko and the Blues.
After the visiting team triumphed through each of the first four games, Winnipeg had a 2-0 lead in Game 5.
Maurice recalled how Blake Wheeler, now with the Rangers, had a breakaway down the wall.
And somehow, out of nowhere, Tarasenko caught up to him. The Blues went on to post three goals in the third period before they won Game 6 to advance.
“In my head, the two words were, ‘Oh f—,’ ” Maurice cracked Wednesday morning ahead of his team’s 3-0 win in Game 1 of the conference final series between the Rangers and Panthers, drawing an audible laugh from the media members in front of him.
“That’s my first memory. That and there’s a hole on the ice there on the dot on the goalie’s left and right that you just don’t want him [there], if you’re the opposing coach, you just don’t want him to have the puck because he gets it off in an incredibly quick manner. What I didn’t know, I didn’t know the man. How much he loves the game, how much he loves talking about the game.
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“We feel we just got the right bunch of guys for him. He and [Aleksander] Barkov will talk hockey the entire game, and [Sam] Reinhart. Just little plays. They’re engaged like that. I think that’s what kind of inspires him in the game, keeps him in the game and makes him as good as he is.”
Tarasenko was a Ranger for 82 days last season, when Blueshirts president and general manager Chris Drury undoubtedly identified the same game-changing player that Maurice did and acquired him from St. Louis on Feb. 9.
The partnership didn’t exactly pan out the way either party expected, with the Rangers losing to the Devils in seven games in the first round, but Tarasenko reflects on his New York tenure fondly.
“I met a lot of great people here,” said Tarasenko, who scored three goals and dished one assist in seven playoff games for the Rangers. “Made some new friends. I don’t really think about it right now, you know, we have a series to play. Have a lot of good memories.”