Good episode dealing, briefly, with the 7-1 shellacking in Tampa, but also with the big win against the Bruins in the home opener, and the win against Colorado after the celebration of equipment manager Pierre Gervais' 2500th NHL game worked.
02:00 Shot of Manny Malhotra and P.A. Parenteau sitting on the bench observing the game, taken from the inside front of the boards facing in, that weird perspective a water bottle would have. Suddenly, as if cattle-prodded, P.A. is up and over the boards, it takes a fraction of a second, when it's his turn to hop on for a change. Quite the contrast with the lazy changes at a drop-in game, where a guy will lazily skate up hoping you're ready to get back on the ice, and you shut him down. "Too soon buddy, I just got off. Give me a minute."
08:00 Hall of Fame Canadiens goalie Ken Dryden passes the torch to Carey Price during the home-opener pre-game ceremony. Very appropriate choice of players, certainly compared to last season, when Daniel Brière ended up being involved.
Great seeing Ken Dryden in the bleu-blanc-rouge again. I forgive him his Maple Leaf divagation. Good seeing Guy Lafleur offering his thoughts on a big game against the Bruins, and managing to keep his foot clear of his buccal orifice.
09:25 Two titans shaking hands when Ken Dryden greets anthem chanteuse Ginette Reno. The cool thing is, being a curious and open-minded sort, I have no doubt that Mr. Dryden knows exactly who she is. They were both mega-stars in Québec in the seventies.
09:45 Another angle of the Alexei Emelin hit on Milan Lucic. Awesome. I'll look at that over and over again, and not tire of it. Clean shoulder check that dumps the Boston loose cannon on his keister.
The actual game against the Bruins is given relatively short shrift. Maybe the producers felt that everything has already been said and written about it.
10:35 Montréal mayor Denis Coderre interviewed on the game between periods. He takes care to predict that David Desharnais will score, which feels forced.
11:20 Jiri Sekac's first NHL goal, with shots of his happy family in the stands. Couldn't help but notice that it's Jarred Tinordi who gathers the puck and flips it to a Canadiens staffer for safekeeping. It further confirms his team-player status.
13:15 Classic Claude Julien head-shake and facepalm combo after a Brendan Gallagher goal. Priceless.
14:30 P.A. Parenteau is the player of the game for his two-goal night. Instead of the puck ceremony we've seen so far, they've come up with a red and blue satiny robe like boxers wear before bouts. Dan Lacroix still handles the camera work though. Good shot of Andrei handing off the honours.
15:00 Travis Moen presents Pierre Gervais with a gift from the players in honour of his 2500th game played, he gets a case of wine, and probably not the cheap stuff I give when I'm invited to dinner somewheres.
Lots of testimonials follow. He used to be the equipment manager for the Sherbrooke Canadiens when Michel Therrien was a player (something we forget about), they won the Calder Cup together. Tomas Plekanec reveals that even though he was at the Olympics as a Team Canada staffer, he sharpened Tomas' skates there too.
19:05 In the Colorado game, a microcosm of P.K.'s season so far. He takes a needless penalty, and compounds it in my eyes with a simulacrum of innocence for the referees' benefit, who don't buy it. Then, stepping out of the box, he scores that sublime, laughter-inducing goal of his, where he veers around the net and then dekes out the goalie. What can you say? Sure, he's taking too big a bite out of our salary cap, but what can you say after that goal?
19:50 Former teammates P.A. Parenteau and Alex Tanguay line up next to each other for the opening faceoff of the third period.
"What's up Tangs?"
"Ça va bien, toi?"
"Ça va, ça va."
"Ç'tun peu tough avec une hanche de bois..."
"It's a little hard to do this with a wooden hip", Alex Tanguay says, cracking up P.A.
21:15 After the win, P.A. Parenteau passes on the robe to Pierre Gervais in honour of his milestone, and he gets to sit in the middle of the team photo commemorating the win.
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