Graham Hughes/The Canadien PressAfter the spanking the Canadiens took in Ottawa Wednesday night, they needed a big rebound this weekend. Two afternoon matches at home, the first against Buffalo on Saturday and then the rematch with Ottawa on Sunday. This win is imperative. After being outplayed, outscored and outhustled on Wednesday night in Ottawa, they cannot afford to lose this next one to the Sens, especially at home. Well, the Habs started the weekend off right with a decisive win against the Sabres 6 -1 Saturday afternoon at the Bell Centre.
The Lowdown on the Down Low
Michel Therrien came out with his edict on Friday, there will be no more triple-five-down-low individual celebrations allowed. This was an exclusive celebration, as practiced by P.K. Subban and Carey Price after a Canadiens win. Said Michel Therrien: “I always like teams that are humble and it’s a team concept, it starts with that. In life, I think, you have to be humble. We have to respect the team, we have to respect the other team and we have to respect our fans. The way we’ve decided to celebrate this year when we win a hockey game at the Bell Centre is at least to salute the fans. They deserve it.” At first blush, this rule appears a little childish, and directed squarely at P.K. Subban. I mean, what difference does it make if you tap helmets or gloves, a whack on the pads or a pat on the backside. But looking beyond that, Michel Therrien is stressing one thing – team. Everything this year will be about the team, not the individual. Support your team and your teammates. Call me old school, but frankly, I agree. Some of the individual celebrations go a little too far, “Look at me, look at me!”. Yakupov, anyone? To paraphrase the great football coach Vince Lombardi, “when you score a goal, act like you’ve done it before.”
P.K. Back
The Sabres game marked the return to the fold of P.K. Subban, who showed no signs of rust. Subban had eighteen minutes of ice time, played hard, dove for pucks and had three hits. Subban was rewarded with an assist on David Desharnais’ second goal of the game. After P.K. blasted a wicked shot from the point, which Sabres goalie Jhonas Enroth couldn’t handle, Desharnais poked in the rebound. Michel Therrien’s philosophy must be rubbing off on the Habs, as this was a total team win. Rene Bourque had two goals. Lars Eller, replacing Max Pacioretty on the top line, had a goal and two assists. Alex Galchenyuk played well with two more assists. Total support for their teammates, and no selfishness.
Unselfish Prust
At the start of the third period, after Rene Bourque’s second goal put the Habs ahead 5 -0, the ensuing faceoff saw Sabres tough guy Steve Ott pushing the Habs rookie Brendan Gallagher, all 5’6” of him, in the faceoff circle. Brandon Prust shooed away Gallagher and took his spot next to Ott, jawing at Ott the whole time. Ott got the drop on Prust but Prust quickly got his gloves off and proceeding to pound on Ott for a decisive victory. Even better, Ott got the instigator penalty, just as the Sens Chris Neil did against Prust in the last game. Prust unselfishly showing he’ll take that first punch for his team and teammates.
Max Back?
Max Pacioretty may be back sooner than later. After his emergency appendectomy last week, Max was supposed to be out three to four weeks, but word on the street says he may be ready to go tomorrow against the Sens. Good news for the Habs.
Your Yakupov comment is spoken like someone who has no understanding of marketing. Yak’s celebration got the NHL all over the different sports networks and actually got people talking about the sport again after the lockout. After last years playoffs which made watching paint dry seem interesting it is nice to have a little spice in the sport. Michael Jordan didn’t need to do all those fancy dunks back in the day but it sure made the game more fun to watch. TO didn’t need to sign a football with a sharpie but it sure made the game more fun to watch. Same with Yakupov. For a sports writer whose job is to write interesting articles players with some personality make for better stories than boring status quo ones. BTW Lombardi didn’t grow up in a facebook and twitter world.
Iceman, I never objected to MJ adding a bit of flair on a dunk. What I would have objected to was if he peeled off his jersey and beat his chest crying, “Look at me, look at me, I made a basket!” Which is exactly what Yakupov was doing when he skated halfway down the ice, fell to his knees and collapsed. Was it the game-winning goal for the Stanley Cup? No. Was it even a game-winning goal? No. It was a tying goal in a regular season game for crying out loud. As Vince Lombardi once tweeted “Act like you’ve done it before!”