MONTREAL — Patrik Laine had watched just about every game the Montreal Canadiens have played at the Bell Centre this season from high above the ice in the press box.
Nothing he had seen could have prepared him for what he experienced in his Canadiens debut Tuesday night, because nothing the Canadiens have done this season merited something similar for him to observe from his press box seat.
It took Laine getting on the ice himself to generate that uniquely Bell Centre sound, much like he did in his first preseason game in this building more than two months earlier.
When Laine got the puck from Lane Hutson in the left circle on a second period power play and rifled a wrist shot into the top corner on the far side, the Bell Centre exploded in a way very few buildings can or do for a goal in early December.
Lane 🤝 Laine #GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/iWZG0R83e0
— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) December 4, 2024
“That was the most outrageous thing I’ve ever heard in my entire life,” Laine said. “I was like, ‘I don’t deserve this.’ Like, not at all. It will be something for sure I will remember forever. That was the coolest thing I’ve ever seen.”
Considering everything Laine has gone through to get to this point — the injuries, the mental challenges — this was a storybook debut, and that was a storybook moment. His teammates were universally thrilled for him.
“I thought it was awesome,” said captain Nick Suzuki, who scored the overtime winner in a 2-1 for the Canadiens. “Patty was feeling love and it was nice to hear the Bell Centre like that.”
And, again, the Bell Centre has sounded like that very often this season.
“Haven’t heard that in a while,” Juraj Slafkovský said. “I love the fans, so it’s always great when they’re happy.”
Yeah, about Slafkovský …
The Laine story is fantastic on this one night, but there is a bigger story happening here, a story that has led to Slafkovský not hearing that crowd reaction in a while, and a story the Canadiens are looking to change.
“We’re looking forward and we’re bringing in a player with a good resume who’s excited, excited to be part of the group and help us,” coach Martin St. Louis said before the game. “That’s an energy and an enthusiasm that you can’t buy. I think it comes at the right time.”
Laine can help change the Canadiens’ story, but he can’t do it alone. And the Canadiens know it.
The Canadiens were off Monday after playing in back-to-back matinees in New York and Boston over the weekend. But not everyone was off.
Slafkovský had an important meeting.
He entered the game against the Islanders with three points in his previous three games, and with 14 points in 21 games this season. Not terrible numbers by any means, but the numbers didn’t tell the entire story. Slafkovský had not been playing to his potential. He knew it. He kept saying it. St. Louis kept telling him.
But it wasn’t changing.
Slafkovský didn’t get any points against the Islanders on Tuesday, but after the game, he was beaming, smiling from ear to ear. For the first time in a while, he felt he had played well — he felt he had done the things he had only been talking about for weeks. He moved his feet, and he was physical, registering a team-high six hits.
Slafkovský was on a line with Laine and Kirby Dach, three very large men, and he played like a large man.
“I feel like we had the puck way more, entering the zone we were actually making plays, it wasn’t always a dump-in and chasing the puck. I honestly felt good today,” he said. “I feel like when we forechecked and hit some bodies, they just gave pucks to us. They tried to rush the play and then we collect the puck on the wall. It’s nice to play with three big bodies.”
When told Slafkovský was happy about how he played, St. Louis said, “He should be.”
Was this a coincidence that he played a game he could be proud of on the same night Laine was making his Canadiens debut and on the same night the Bell Centre was “buzzing,” as Slafkovský described it?
No, it wasn’t.
“Uhhh, how do I say it? Well, I got s–t yesterday from someone in the organization, I kind of had to wake up,” Slafkovský said. “I had to wake up. Sometimes it’s good to have meetings where you face the truth. I feel like it’s only going to get better from now if I do what I did today, get more touches, get more shots, and hopefully get some points.”
That someone, Slafkovský said, was not St. Louis.
“Marty tells me that every day,” he said. “Obviously it’s enough when he tells me that, but for some reason, I wasn’t doing what I was doing in the past games. Tonight was better.”
Later, Slafkovský reluctantly admitted it was general manager Kent Hughes who had that chat with him Monday. The same man who signed Slafkovský to an eight-year, $60.8 million contract extension over the summer, a contract that kicks in next year. The same man who acquired Laine later that same summer, hoping he would make the Canadiens more competitive and provide support for players like Slafkovský.
Slafkovský felt that support in his first game playing with Laine. But he needed that kick in the pants from his general manager as well. Slafkovský didn’t have to reveal that meeting publicly, but he did. Because he thought it was important.
The meeting reveals something about what the Canadiens consider important as this season slips away from the stated goal of being in the playoff mix. Because that was never the actual goal, the deep-down goal.
The reason the Canadiens wanted to play meaningful games into March and April was so that players like Slafkovský and Dach and Hutson and so many others could experience that and grow from it. But even if the Canadiens don’t play those meaningful games that deep into the season, the desire to make some kind of push, and have that push led by future core players like Slafkovský, remains real and important.
This was only one game, but Laine’s return improved the Canadiens’ depth, it allowed all the forwards to get involved and play in any situation because St. Louis said he felt comfortable putting any of his forward lines on the ice at any time for the first time this season.
And that is what is most important here. It’s that Laine completes the puzzle the Canadiens thought they had when they expressed their desire to be in the mix this season. When they expressed that desire at the end of last season, it was under the assumption a player of Laine’s calibre would be added.
Having Laine play this first game with Slafkovský and Dach — two players of vital importance to what the Canadiens are building here and two players who have struggled to varying degrees this season — only drove home the importance of the Laine acquisition, to begin with.
Yes, it was the addition of a unique talent, but the real point was to build belief in a young core that the Canadiens are moving to another stage, that they are done selling off parts and ready to add to help them win.
Dach said before the game how refreshing that was. Suzuki said the same a couple of days after the trade.
This season has not gone that way, of course. And this was just one game. The Canadiens are still 30th in the NHL standings.
But they are welcoming the 31st team, the Nashville Predators, to the Bell Centre on Thursday. They are playing their next four games at home and five of their next six. They have beatable opponents on the schedule.
The goal of being in the mix might have already evaporated, but the whole point of the Laine acquisition was to create hope. And, for one night at least, it did that. Not only because Laine scored, but because of what he did for two vital pieces of the rebuild that were playing on his line.
“I felt those three — they haven’t played together — I thought they looked good tonight,” St. Louis said. “I know it’s one game, but it’s something to build off. They’re going to have to repeat that and keep getting better together every game. We’re trying to stay even keel with it. We’re very happy with the result we got tonight. We weren’t perfect but we played a good game, the intentions of the guys were good, the work was good, the work ethic was good.
“With that line, to me, it’s a good first game. I’d rather have a good first game than a bad one, but I wouldn’t overreact with a bad one, so I’m not going to overreact with a good one. It’s just one game, but I’m happy with the way it looked.”
(Photo of Patrik Laine and Cole Caufield: Matt Garies / NHLI via Getty Images)
