You know the famous phrase “Are you laughing at me or with me?” “. Thursday evening, we heard the two possibilities, but at the end of the evening, it is with Marc-André Fleury that the spectators of the Bell Center laughed.
Because that’s what it’s worth, a 500e victory in the National League. Fleury became the third goalkeeper in history, after Patrick Roy and Martin Brodeur, to reach the magic number. The Chicago Blackhawks won 2-0 over the Canadiens.
Some oddballs tried to distract the Sorel goalkeeper with “Fleeeuuuury” at the start of the match, nothing helped. At the end of the evening, it was more like “Fleu-ry! Fleury ! That we heard at the Bell Center.
” It is special. I really thought that the world hated me in Montreal !, launched a Fleury still moved, after the match. Every year, I was yelled at or booed. I never play my best games here.
“For having won this 500e with my family, my friends in the arena and the welcome from the fans, it’s warm. It feels good. ”
“It feels good”, on the one hand because he could chase away the bad memories of his last visits here. Remember the famous gift to Josh Anderson, to allow the Canadian to tie the game at the very end of the third game of the semi-final last spring.
“It feels good” on the other hand because it allowed Fleury to check off an item on her to-do list.
“I’m excited,” he admitted, laughing. I’ve been thinking about it for a while, maybe a couple of years. Looks like that’s a number I was getting into my head, that I wanted to hit before I put my leg warmers on.
“I’m proud of myself, I’ve had so much support from my teammates, organizations, goalie coaches over the years, fans, family, friends… Everyone has always been there for me. I’m glad I did that in Montreal. ”
Contagious smile
In a season where the Bell Center has more often looked like a funeral home than a sports-entertainment institution, it took the happiest player in the NHL to put a little fun into the place.
All evening Fleury smiled. Sometimes chatting to Seth Jones after a stoppage of play, sometimes when the referee came to get the puck after a stoppage of the mitten against Nick Suzuki. Otherwise, it was a slap behind the buttocks of defender Calvin de Haan, who had just made a big clearance during a shorthanded early in the game.
PHOTO DAVID BOILY, THE PRESS
His smile is such that he even manages to bribe Jonathan Toews, him whose nickname is “Captain Serious”. Note that Toews also came to talk to us because he had finally scored his first goal of the season, at his 26e match. It shouldn’t have hurt!
“I remember when he played in Vegas and Pittsburgh… Me, I’m always serious and I force myself on the ice. Him, you hear him laughing because he’s relaxed and having fun.
“It’s not necessarily fun playing against him,” continued the Blackhawks captain. But our team is starting to find a chemistry, and it’s rare for the keeper to be part of that camaraderie in a locker room. In training, he talks all the time and that adds energy to the team. ”
Like the players, head coach Derek King is also getting to know Fleury, seeing the effect of her broad smiles.
“It calms everyone down. He’s been in the league for a long time, he breaks records and he’s a world-class athlete. He’s so calm. If he’s not worried, then why should we be worried? ”
The many fans who stayed until the end came away with a smile, even though the home side suffered a fifth straight loss.
It would be interesting to know what Jeff Gorton came out with. While the vice-president hockey of the CH is in full reflection about the future of the team, there are undoubtedly observations to be drawn from what we have observed in the opposing camp. Chicago has attempted a reset in recent years, and the acquisitions of Fleury and Jones over the summer were theoretically supposed to speed up the process. The results are slow to be felt, but the Blackhawks may not have had their last word.
If they do come back to the race, times like Thursday will have to be remembered, those times when players came together around an emotional leader. Gorton will also have decisions to make about his emotional leaders, and episodes like Thursday’s remind us that the worth of these players isn’t always measured by cold cap calculations.
On the rise: Laurent Dauphin
PHOTO DAVID BOILY, THE PRESS
Laurent Dauphin and Dominik Kubalik
He prepared one of the Canadiens’ best chances by passing Michael Pezzetta mid-game. With his speed, he also caused a penalty and a few puck losses for the Blackhawks.
Down: Kale Clague
PHOTO DAVID BOILY, THE PRESS
Kale clague
If Dauphin takes his chance, the same cannot be said of Clague. His penalty led to Chicago’s first goal and he has a tendency to give the puck back to the opponent.
The number of the match: 22: 51
It’s Nick Suzuki usage time. This is the second time in three games that he has exceeded 22 minutes, a very high number for a striker.
In details
644 Goalless Days For Toews
PHOTO DAVID BOILY, THE PRESS
Jonathan Toews tries to jump on a save return from Jake Allen.
Like many people in the Chicago Hawks because of the Kyle Beach affair, Jonathan Toews hasn’t performed very well in recent weeks, also on the ice, let’s face it. But he took advantage of that magical Thursday night at the Bell Center to do something he hadn’t done for a long time: score. Indeed, his goal, the Hawks’ first in this historic and memorable game, was the first of the season for him, in his 26th game of 2021-2022, but especially his first since… March 5, 2020 , a little before all arenas in the league are closed due to the pandemic. Of course, he noticed that everyone on his team had thought about jumping on the ice when he was finally able to put that puck in the back of the net. “I saw that and I said to myself that it was probably not a good sign,” he explained.
A second time for Ylonen
PHOTO FRANÇOIS ROY, PRESS ARCHIVES
Jesse ylonen
We saw Jesse Ylonen pass very briefly last season, the time of only one game. Thursday night’s meeting at the Bell Center was therefore only the second of his career in the NHL, and of course with the CH. The young forward hardly played (just over 7 minutes of play, only) and he was unable to write his name on the scoresheet. “But I felt better this time than in my previous match with the Canadiens,” he admitted after the meeting. I played with the guys from the fourth line (with Paquette and Pezzetta), but that doesn’t bother me. I have to be able to give the best of myself. The Hawks play well, they play well with the puck too. This is their greatest quality and it is not easy to face them. “
Busy Savard
PHOTO FRANÇOIS ROY, PRESS ARCHIVES
David Savard
When a club pulls it out like you know who, it is not uncommon for some players to find themselves in the proverbial “showcase”, a scientific and complicated expression which is equivalent to talking about the trading market. So our keen eyes have jumped in amazement in the last three games, when David Savard has been employed for at least 23 minutes of play each time (23:05 Thursday night, to be exact). Obviously, Dominique Ducharme could not help but distribute the minutes like the Sainte-Catherine taffy stems on Halloween, first of all because of the numerous injuries, but all the same, all this is devilishly interesting. Ben Chiarot is the player who was most often employed Thursday, with 23:13 of playing time, and he too is among those who could change address when the management of the Canadiens publicly admit that the feat of the Blues of 2019 will not happen every year.
They said
I know when you lose it’s not easy. Sometimes you just want to go get changed, but it’s really nice of them for staying.
Fleury, about David Savard, Mathieu Perreault and Chris Wideman, who stayed on the ice to congratulate Fleury
I was just trying to get the feeling, to visualize having the puck around the net, to be patient. You have to visualize yourself scoring in different ways. I’ll take the goal, whatever way.
Jonathan Toews, author of his first goal of the season
We played a good game, we gave ourselves a chance, but we weren’t working in dangerous places to disturb Marc André (Fleury). At least there is something positive. We played well against Tampa Bay, and this time it could have gone either way. It’s hard to see any positive, but there have been some in the last two games.
Jonathan drouin
There are positive aspects to our game in the last few games… We have to win our individual fights and make good plays with the puck. We have to run our games.
Brett Kulak
They scored on the power play and their second goal came on a mistake… Other than that, at 5 against 5, it defended quite well on both sides. I liked our start, we had a little passage in first where we lacked execution, we played east-west instead of playing more forward. We had a few chances, but we would have liked to generate more.
Dominique ducharme