The Miami Herald’s Jordan McPherson asked Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov, coach Paul Maurice and Red Wings coach Todd McLellan to weigh in regarding Vladimir Tarasenko, who won a Stanley Cup with Florida last season:
“Vladdy loves the game,” Maurice said. “He likes to talk hockey. He’s completely immersed in it. We moved him around a bunch of different places, and then he found his home with [Eetu] Luostarinen and [Anton] Lundell and just was constantly on the bench talking about plays. It was great for those two guys to have a veteran player who’s really, really high hockey IQ. Engaged them in the game, and then he sort of pretty big goals for us.”
Added Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov: “He was important for us. Obviously, he’s been in the Cup Final and won the Cup. He brought that to us, that veteran leadership. He worked really hard. It was fun to watch him in practice and the games, like how hard he chased the puck, how hard he works still. Just an unbelievable teammate. He brought everything to us.”
Now, Tarasenko is trying to bring everything he can to the Red Wings, who he signed a two-year, $9.5 million deal with this offseason and who had a season-long seven-game win streak snapped on Tuesday against the San Jose Sharks. In that San Jose game, though, Tarasenko scored two goals, his first multi-goal game of the season and his first goals since Dec. 1.
“He has had the puck on his tape a fair amount, and he has had looks at the net,” Detroit coach Todd McLellan said. “A lot of what he was taking was either blocked or deflected, not quite getting there. Those two shots [against San Jose] were lasers. They were quickly released. They were he knew where he was shooting. I don’t know even know if he picked the spot, but he shot to an area, and I think that’s what really good scorers do. If you have time, you pick your spot. If you don’t have time, you shoot to an area and and you get it off quick enough so that the goalie has to do the job. And Vlad, he did that the other night. I thought that was perhaps his best game since I’ve been here. We tried to get him on the ice a little bit more to reward him for that, so hopefully it carries over.”
