Montreal Canadiens fans got one final opportunity to pay tribute to a man they've held dearly in their hearts for some 20 years, and what a tribute it was.
The emotion in the Bell Centre last night may not have translated as well to television, but it was palpable as Saku Koivu took to center ice and the chanting of his name thundered throughout the building. He conveyed his gratitude to everyone with elegance, poignantly beginning and ending his speech in some well-crafted french.
"Je t'aime pour toujours, Montreal. Merci beaucoup!". That was Koivu's response to an outpouring of love, as the current editions of the Canadiens and Anaheim Ducks lined up to shake his hand.
And then the game started on a rather anticlimactic note. After a couple of good rushes for Brendan Gallagher, the Canadiens fourth line--comprised of Manny Malhotra, Eric Tangradi and Michael Bournival--with the defense pairing of Nathan Beaulieu and Tom Gilbert got hemmed into their own end for a shift that last 2:43 and culminated in a goal for Hamphus Lindholm.
After being stuck out there for more than a minute without being able to clear the zone, the whistle blew on an icing and Michel Therrien had an opportunity to call timeout then and there. With it being fairly early in the game, with his best face-off man in Malhotra on the ice, he elected not to.
Malhotra lost the draw, and Tangradi failed to clear the zone twice before finally icing it again. So Therrien took a necessary timeout, taking mercy out on his fourth line, giving him a piece of his mind as they gasped for air by the bench. They trotted back out to the draw, and Malhotra lost it again. He then ducked out of the lane as the shot from Lindholm came, and there was no chance for Carey Price to stop it.
It wasn't until late in the first period that the Canadiens found their footing in the game, but Frederik Andersen was stellar for the Ducks. He made several quality saves, and the Canadiens missed some golden opportunities, none better than a shot Alex Galchenyuk sent sailing wide on a perfect setup from Max Pacioretty.
Just a few minutes into the third period, the game took a dramatic turn as Pacioretty was sent barreling into the boards by Clayton Stoner. He tried to get up, but couldn't do so under his own power. There was no penalty called on the play, and Pacioretty didn't return to the game.
That sequence seemed to infuriate the Canadiens just enough to get themselves on the board. Dale Weise played an inspired shift, launching two hits before inevitably drawing a penalty.
When the powerplay got to work, David Desharnais showed some great hustle to recover a couple of loose pucks before filtering it up the half-wall to Galchenyuk. Galchenyuk pushed the puck quickly over to Andrei Markov, who threw the kind of pass he's made an NHL living on to Desharnais. The quick one-timer gave Desharnais his fourth goal of the season.
Just a minute later, P.K. Subban was sent to the box on an extremely questionable interference call. The Ducks couldn't capitalize on the powerplay, but as Subban left the box, they found a quick hole in Montreal's defense and buried the game off of Matt Beleskey's stick.
There was a little more than 13 minutes remaining in the third period, but without Pacioretty, the Canadiens lost their balance and couldn't really recover. Subban was sent to the box again with 2:16 left--another marginal call--and though the Canadiens had a bit of a push towards the end, it just wasn't going to land in their court.
Michel Therrien commented afterwards to say that he didn't like the hit on Pacioretty. He didn't elaborate any further on the job the officials did in the game, though he was clearly displeased. As for his view of the game his team played, he said:
"I liked our work ethic, I liked our passion, we were on the puck. We had good scoring chances and we didn't capitalize.".
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1) Everybody on social media seemed to have a different reaction to the hit. In my evaluation, though it wasn't a hit in the numbers, it did come from behind Pacioretty. He didn't see Stoner coming at him, and he was definitely vulnerable, roughly three feet from the boards.
It is Pacioretty's responsibility to brace himself for a hit if anyone from the opposing team is in his vicinity as he's releasing the puck. When you watch it in real time, it didn't appear to be a late hit.
All that said, it was evident that he was vulnerable and unaware. Stoner hit him full force from the blindside, and slammed him into the boards.
Here's the NHL's rulebook on boarding:
A boarding penalty shall be imposed on any player or goalkeeper who checks or pushes a defenseless opponent in such a manner that causes the opponent to hit or impact the boards violently in the boards. The severity of the penalty, based upon the impact with the boards, shall be at the discretion of the Referee.
This was a pretty black and white case, no?
2) Just an opinion, but there's a big difference between playing Dale Weise up a line in the roster and plugging him in for spot duty.
For two games, Weise has been--largely ineffectively--trying to play a passing game with Tomas Plekanec and Jiri Sekac. It took the frustration of seeing Pacioretty get injured to finally get him to do what he's supposed to be doing no matter which line he plays on.
Weise is an energy player. If you reward his energy and robustness by bumping him up in a game, he continues to do what got him promoted. If you give him the assignment from the beginning of the game, he approaches it from a different angle.
Do you like what you've seen from Sekac and Plekanec with Weise on their line?
3) I thought Tangradi did a commendable job of bouncing back on the couple of shifts he got after that monstrosity in the first period. But that horrible, horrible shift that had Therrien telling him to "wake the f$%# up" during the timeout was a pristine example of why he hasn't stuck at the NHL level. It's an odd thing to see a guy that's 6"5 play at the end of his stick. He needs to hit to be effective. If he's chasing the puck around, there's a problem.
Sven Andrighetto was sent down to the minors because Lars Eller was supposed to be ready to play. But sure enough, Eller didn't dress last night. And Andrighetto could've made a difference on the team's second line where he, Plekanec and Sekac did formidably for the three games they played together.
Weise could've made the difference on the fourth line, where he belongs.
The second and fourth lines were a mess against Carolina. The only adjustment was Tangradi in for Andrighetto.
4) With Eller set to return, as the team awaits an update on Pacioretty (he was sent to the hospital for tests last night), where will he slot into the lineup?
If Pacioretty's out, are we going to see the reunion of the 'EGG' line?
Or will Therrien opt to put Eller in Desharnais' spot next to Parenteau and Prust, bringing Desharnais back up to centre Galchenyuk and Gallagher?
5) When you think of Saku Koivu's career, it's hard not to jump straight to April 9th, 2002. But for me, everything after April 9th is what really stands out.
That year, the Canadiens played desperately to give Koivu something to return to. He came back with three games left in the season, and the Canadiens clinched a playoff berth in his first game, of which he could only skate 8:22 in.
The Habs went to New Jersey for their next game, and Koivu picked up his first two points before they came back to Montreal to close out their season.
And then, by some form of miracle, Koivu's 8th placed Canadiens took out the top-seeded Bruins. The Habs had actually finished with the NHL"s 18th-best record, and the Bruins had the league's second-best. Koivu--playing roughly 14:00/game, led them in scoring through the series. How did he find the energy to do that?
In 2004, Koivu took his 7th placed Canadiens past the 2nd placed Bruins once again. This time, he was playing with torn cartilage in his ribs. Joe Thornton was playing with the same injury. Koivu finished with 10 points in 7 games. Thornton had zero.
In 2006, Koivu had two points in three games before Justin Williams caught him with that high-stick that nearly took his eye out.
In 2007-08, Koivu was battling injury before returning to the team for games six and seven of their series with Boston. He put up three points in those games. And in five tumultuous games against Philadelphia, he scored six points. He scored in every playoff game he played in that season.
In his final playoffs (2008-09) with the Canadiens, on a divided team that had fallen so far short of where they should've in the standings, Koivu scored three points in four games as the Bruins swept his team out.
Throughout his career in Montreal, he was constantly scrutinized as a player that wasn't worthy of being considered a number 1 center. But when the games mattered most, without choice linemates, Koivu scored 48 points in 54 games.
When Koivu did have a chance to play with top line partners, on the International stage, he led the Olympics in scoring. Alongside Jiri Lehtonen and Teemu Selanne in Turin, Italy in 2006, he was unstoppable. Koivu put up three goals and eight assists in just eight games. It was unnerving to see him break his stick in the third period, rushing to the bench to retrieve another and Nick Ldistrom buried Finland's tournament on a beautiful play by Peter Forsberg. The tournament All-Star team was Selanne, Koivu and Ovechkin up front, with Lidstrom, Kimmo Timmonen and Antero Niittymaki rounding it out from the back.
We know how his career started in Montreal. It was a shame to see it end the way it did. He deserved better. He deserved better while he was here. He deserved a chance to compete for the Stanley Cup. He'd have led the team there if there were a team to lead.
But last night, at center ice, Koivu stood with gratitude for everything Montreal gave him, without a hint of regret for what it didn't give him. It was strong testament to the fine person he is; the person he wants to be remembered as.
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
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