The mood Thursday night at Toronto’s Air Canada Centre swallowed a special moment whole, smothered it in shadows the way Joe Thornton’s non-playoff beard and San Jose Sharks ballcap do his eyes.
More than a few reporters covering Maple Leafs-Sharks — a contest featuring one team mathematically eliminated and one on post-season life support — were keeping one eye on a laptop stream of the infinitely more engaging shinny the Senators and Bruins were playing. Out of irony or cluelessness or self-importance or beer, two fans tried in vain to arouse a “Go Leafs Go!” chant with the home club down 4-1 and playing, in Jonathan Bernier’s words, like a junior team. And a press box visitor tapped my shoulder and said, “I guess you drew the short straw, eh?”
Small stakes, small talk.
Yet out of this bizarre fog of apathy and frustration — on a wedding night, no less — there was one man too old for this crap ranking carnival-king high on the give-a-crap meter.
Jumbo Joe came out ablaze, winning eight of 13 faceoffs, firing four shots on goal (something he hadn’t done since Dec. 22), and creating scoring chances from all angles.
Fitting that one of the greatest passers the game will ever see notched his 900th assist from all-time leader’s office: a direct pass to the tape of Melker Karlsson, a player 11 years younger than him, from behind the net. Just 18 other NHLers have reached the benchmark.
Only the Sharks’ dressing room and front office walls really know the tested relationship between coach, general manager and former captain, but after the game Todd McLellan walked up to Thornton and shook his hand.
“I just let him know how proud we are of him. That’s remarkable. It’s a special feat, and he’s got a lot of them left in him,” McLellan said. “We’re fortunate to have him playing well for us right now, and the guys are rallying around him. That’s fairly obvious, and we’ll need that for the next 10, 11 nights.”
Thornton’s first assist of the night helped end a four-month power-play goal drought for star Logan Couture. And since the Wilson spat last week, Thornton has registered a point every night: one goal and four assists over three games.
Contrary to his brief scrums with the press, the big guy was expressive on the ice — smiling and hugging teammates, and even sharing a laugh with the maligned Phil Kessel, after the Toronto sniper intercepted one of Thornton’s many cross-ice passes for a chance the other way.
The Sharks are on target to miss the playoffs for the first time Thornton became one, yet the veteran couldn’t have looked more engaged on the ice. After he stepped off, however, there was scant acknowledgement of the milestone.
“The more aggressive we are, the harder we are to play against.” — Joe Thornton
There is a greatness here that may be taken for granted. At 35, Thornton is second among active NHLers (to Jaromir Jagr, 43) in the all-time assist tally. And at an assist rate of 0.71 per game, he’s racked them up at a more efficient pace than half of the legends ahead of him on the list.
There’s no reason to think he won’t cruise past 1,000 assists and into the all-time top 10 before he’s done.
“He’s got so many [milestones], I don’t even know if he knows they’re coming, which is usually a sign of a pretty good player,” McLellan says.
“It’s fun to be part of. When you’re around Hall of Fame players and they knock off those milestones, it’s a great moment for younger players too. They can talk about that with their families: I was in Toronto that night. I played on that team. I think of [Daniil] Tarasov and [Barclay] Goodrow and [Chris] Tierney – our rookies who are sharing it with Jumbo.”
Pass ’em all, Joe.
