Long exercise yesterday. Who, in the history of the Canadiens, found himself in the same boots as Carey Price?
Who then carried all the responsibility and the pressure to make his team win? Who was the only serious hope for victory? Who carried the whole team on his shoulders?
I revised the whole story of Patrick Roy. It’s obvious that in overtime, no one will be able to match Casseau’s exploits. But the big series won by Roy were with teams that had great players. Larry Robinson, Bob Gainey, Rick Green, Mats Naslund, Ryan Walter, Carbo and many more.
In 1993, there were Éric Desjardins, John LeClair, Brian Bellows, Guy Carbonneau, Kirk Muller and Vincent Damphousse with 97 points.
Dryden and Halak
Some will tell me about Ken Dryden’s exploits against the Chicago Blackhawks and Boston Bruins. It’s a good point, but Dryden had some great talented players ahead of him. Players who were going to give Montreal its last dynasty.
The case of Jaroslav Halak raises several questions. Especially the series against the Washington Capitals. He was wonderful. So much so that Carey Price was forced to sit on the bench.
But still there, Halak could rely on a well established team and well managed by Jacques Martin.
To understand how Carey Price must feel before the third game of the series against the Pittsburgh Penguins, it is therefore to José Théodore that we must turn.
Hart and Vézina
But how to decide between 2002 and 2004? In both cases, Theodore had completely and completely carted his team on his shoulders.
In 2004, the Bruins led 3-1 in their series against the Canadiens. During the regular season, they finished second in the league standings and the Canadian far behind.
Remember, Alex Kovalev had lit with Richard Zednik and the Canadian, for the first time in history, came back from a 3-1 deficit in a series to beat Boston. José Théodore shut out the Bruins 2-0 in Game 7.
Just before the meeting, Theodore had slipped to his teammate Pierre Dagenais: “Tonight, I’m going to whitewash them. No problem. ”
But what Carey Price has to do tonight and for the rest of the series is what Theodore achieved in April 2002. The year he won the Hart and Vézina trophies. The year he achieved an efficiency rating of .931.
Want to get a feel for what the team was like? The first counter was Yanic Perreault with 56 points !!! The second, Zednik … with 44 points and the third, Oleg Petrov with 41 points. An abyss of nullity. Fortunately, Andrei Markov was very young.
Congratulations from Pat Burns
It must have been impossible. But the Canadian had eliminated the Bruins in six games. With Claude Julien behind the bench. You have to read Pat Burns’ comments and analyzes to understand. The last four chronicles all contain a few paragraphs to say that “José Théodore must steal the match”. Or that José Théodore “must steal another match”.
The articles in the last matches are a bit crazy …
So yesterday, I called Theodore. He is in Montreal and he was eating with Mario Messier, Serge Savard’s partner.
– Theo? 2002 or 2004?
– I do not really know. What I do know is that we didn’t have a big club. That is certain. But 2002, it was really hard …
So Price must absolutely imitate Theo of 2002.
Because it’s hard …
Hell of Beirut
“I grew up 20 minutes from the port of Beirut. Where the terrible explosions occurred. My assistant tries to reach relatives who lived even closer. I tried to get in touch with parents, but the calls did not go through, ”explained Camille Estephan yesterday late afternoon in Montreal.
In other words, with the time difference, we were at the start of a night of horror in Beirut, the capital of Lebanon.
“I left Lebanon when I was 15, in 1986. It was too dangerous and my parents decided to send me to Quebec,” recalls Estephan.
Deep roots
The boxing promoter is the most Québécois in Quebec. But he kept roots and a rich Lebanese culture. His associates and trusted staff are often Lebanese.
“I was still able to have news and what is said among people is that it is a cache of Hezbollah ammunition that a missile would have detonated. It’s not official, that’s what’s being said, ”said Estephan.
Lebanon, a magnificent country if there is one, is a real powder keg, stuck between Iran and Israel and disturbed by Hezbollah, both a political party and a “liberation” army, considered a terrorist enemy by Israel. Not to mention the Americans who are there to watch over the “interests” of democracy. And maybe for oil?
In Montreal, on a different front, Estephan is preparing to meet Dr. Horacio Arruda next week.
In the notebook
We can thank Denis Coderre and probably Geoff Molson for having imposed a little respect on the NHL. And his accomplices in Toronto and Ottawa who let it go.
Brett Kissel, who sang with Yoan Garneau at The voice, was the first surprised when he saw his strawberry on the screen singing theO Canada before the match. It was a video of a February 14 performance in Pittsburgh. The NHL was so entangled in its stupidity that we forgot to tell the singer. But Kissel, a good guy from Edmonton, took it all with humor.
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