Geoff Ward gave a strongly-worded response to Paul Maurice's claim against Matthew Tkachuk

BarDown Staff

Maurice, Jets double down on 'reckless' Tkachuk hit: 'I don't think it was accidental'

Head coaches Paul Maurice and Geoff Ward have very differing opinions on Matthew Tkachuk's hit (if that' what you want to call it?) on Mark Scheifele.

In his postgame interview on Saturday, Maurice confidently claimed Tkachuk intended to hurt Scheifele on the play and if that wasn't enough, he double-downed on his comments the following day by claiming it wasn't an accident. Tkachuk also claimed it was complete accident and reminded the media that the two train together with former NHLer Gary Roberts, but his head coach still felt the need to defend his star forward and point out what he believes Maurice's comments have really been all about.

According to Ward, the Jets bench boss is just trying to get an "elite player" suspended.

"Everything resets at zero again and now we have to get ourselves ready to play a really good hockey team in Game 2."

Geoff Ward on the mindset headed into tomorrow's game and more takeaways from last night's win. pic.twitter.com/w3PN6mgaXG
— Calgary Flames (@NHLFlames) August 2, 2020

#Flames coach Geoff Ward on Tkachuk/Scheifele, all 540 words of it. pic.twitter.com/It36CXA5Dt
— Aaron Vickers (@AAVickers) August 2, 2020

As for Maurice's initial comments... well, he didn't hold back.

🎥 Paul Maurice on Mark Scheifele’s injury, the team’s play against Calgary in game one, and more following tonight’s game. pic.twitter.com/UC7WDJLPNI
— Winnipeg Jets (@NHLJets) August 2, 2020

As you'd expect lots to discuss with Jets bench boss Paul Maurice.

Topics: Who would fill 55's role? Whether he has had any second thoughts about his comments last night? Getting Jets on track. Physicality of the Flames. His approach at practice & morehttps://t.co/ULm0nNE37D
— Illegal Curve Hockey (@IllegalCurve) August 2, 2020

Tkachuk has a history of suspensions but multiple well-known NHL names were quick to come to his defence.

Mark Scheifele is one of my favorite players to watch in the game... with that said, to suggest that Matthew Tkachuk had “intention” in that hit is absolutely ridiculous! Terrible result, but that’s a careless accusation to make. #NHLJets #NHLFlames @NHLNetwork
— Mike Rupp (@Rupper17) August 2, 2020

Lot of Matthew Tkachuk bullshit out there right now. He’s not even capable of intentionally hurting someone with his skates in that situation. No disrespect but there are a small % of players that can skate well enough to do that intentially and he ain’t one of them.
— Chris Wideman (@Chris_Wideman) August 2, 2020

TSN's Sara Orlesky reported on Sunday that Scheifele's injury isn't believed to be serious, so hopefully he can make a return. What are your thoughts on the play?

(H/T Calgary Flames)