Florida Hockey Now’s George Richards asked several Panthers–and Red Wings coach Todd McLellan–to weigh in on Vladimir Tarasenko’s homecoming to the team with which he won last year’s Stanley Cup:
“He was important for us,” Florida captain Sasha Barkov said. “He has been in the Cup Finals, had won the Cup, and he brought that veteran leadership to us. It was fun to watch him in practices and games in how hard he shot the puck. He was an unbelievable teammate. He brought everything to us. It will be fun to see him tonight.’’
Added Paul Maurice: “He was a great mentor. Vladi loves the game, loves to talk hockey, is completely immersed in it. We moved him around, played him in a bunch of different places and then he found his home with Luostarinen and Lundell. He was constantly on the bench, talking about plays. It was great for those two guys to have a veteran guy with a very high hockey IQ engaging them in the game. And, he scored some pretty big goals.’’
Tarasenko, who did not speak to the media following Detroit’s morning skate at the IcePlex Thursday, has struggled a bit with his new team.
On Tuesday, he scored twice in Detroit’s 6-3 loss to the San Jose Sharks. It was the first time he scored in a span of 20 games.
New coach Todd McLellan hopes Tarasenko’s game Tuesday gets him going.
“He has had the puck on his tape a fair amount, and he has had looks at the net,” McLellan said. “A lot of what he was taking was either blocked or deflected, not quite getting there. Those two [goals] were lasers. They were released and he knew where they were going. I don’t know if he picked a spot, but he picked an area, and that’s what really good scorers do.”
