OTTAWA — Alain Vigneault grew up in Gatineau, Quebec, just across the river from Ottawa. He got his first coaching gig in the NHL as an assistant with the Senators. His mother and father, ages 82 and 84, respectively, still live in town.
But when Vigneault takes his Rangers into the Canadian Tire Centre for Game 1 of their second-round series against the Senators on Thursday night, all of that history is going to be left behind.
“During the year, it does [matter],” Vigneault said after his team’s final tune-up, a practice in Westchester on Wednesday before leaving. “I get to go home, I get to see my parents. … So I always go. But playoff hockey, I’m going to stay at the hotel and I’m going to work and I’m going to prepare my team. So it’s a different time; a little more at stake right now.”
Vigneault said he was appreciative of his first job in the NHL, which came in the Senators’ inaugural season of 1992, when Vigneault was just 31 years old. He worked alongside head coach Rick Bowness for three-plus years before they were all fired in mid-1995.
“They gave me my first opportunity way back when, when I still had hair and I was just a young pup,” Vigneault said. “My family lives there, all of them grew up there. But I’ve been coaching such a long time that it’s not that big of a deal for me.”
As for friendships, Mats Zuccarello is putting his on hold with former Broadway chum Derick Brassard, now an integral member of the Senators following an offseason trade.
When Zuccarello was asked Wednesday about his relationship with Brassard, he jokingly said: “Who? I don’t know him.” He later added that there have been no recent texts between the two, and that it’s “all business.”
That goes in line with what Vigneault had said on Tuesday, when he proclaimed that Brassard “is not their friend anymore. There will be no little tapping of the butt as he goes by on the ice.”
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Rick Nash returned to practice Wednesday after a third straight day off the ice on Tuesday. The 32-year-old had a physical series against the Canadiens, but didn’t feel too worse for the wear. He spoke with Vigneault and head trainer Jim Ramsay, deciding it would only be beneficial to stay off on Monday.
“Just a couple bumps and bruises,” Nash said. “Talked to AV and Rammer, just thought an extra day would help.”
Nash rejoined his line with Jimmy Vesey and Derek Stepan, and the rest of the lineup is set to remain the same as it was at the end of the Montreal series, with Tanner Glass and Kevin Klein as the most notable healthy scratches.