Canadiens' Laine owns the night in long-awaited return to NHL action

MONTREAL — For a guy who said he felt awful throughout his first NHL game in 354 days, Patrik Laine certainly didn’t look it.

And it wasn’t just the goal he ripped home to put the Montreal Canadiens up 1-0 in what turned out to be a 2-1 overtime win over the New York Islanders Tuesday. It wasn’t just the elite puck touches of a player who was drafted second overall in 2016, either. 

It was everything the six-foot-five winger did through his 19 shifts to bring fans at the Bell Centre out of their seats and give his Canadiens teammates a sense of excitement they haven’t felt since he took the rush down the ice that ultimately led to the knee injury he suffered in his second pre-season game. What Laine’s game represented was hope—not that the Canadiens will miraculously turn around this season, but that they can move forward as the team they expected to be before it began.

When coach Martin St. Louis arrived at the team’s annual golf tournament in September and repeated what owner Geoff Molson, executive vice president of hockey operations Jeff Gorton and general manager Kent Hughes said before him about “being in the mix,” it was based on Laine filling out a top-six forward group desperate for a talent injection while pushing other players down the lineup to tilt matchups in the Canadiens’ favour. 

Tuesday’s game, which was Montreal’s 25^th of the season, was the first opportunity for St. Louis to see that vision come to life.

After it was over, he said, “With the depth that we have right now, tonight was the first night I felt really comfortable not concentrating on hard matchups.” 

“I liked the continuity and coming in waves,” St. Louis added.

He liked seeing Laine score, too, no doubt.

And so did Canadiens fans, who gave Laine a building-shaking ovation after he took a pass from Lane Hutson 34 seconds into a middle-frame power play, settled the puck on his stick and flung right off where the far-side post meets the crossbar.

In the net it went, up went Laine’s arms, up went the fans, and it was a scene to behold.

Laine took it in and thought about everything he’d been through to arrive at that moment.

“That was the most outrageous thing I’ve ever heard in my entire life,” he said. “I don’t deserve this, not at all. It’ll be something, for sure, I’ll remember forever. That was the coolest thing I’ve ever seen…Pretty humbling… and I’m just grateful and just thankful to be here.”

To see the big Finn so happily describing the experience put a lot in perspective. 

Laine was searching for joy, and for his love of the game in Columbus. His last season with the Blue Jackets took him further away from it, as it was cut short by 64 games due to a broken clavicle and a long stint in the NHL/NHLPA players’ assistance program.

Laine appeared to have rediscovered it all upon his trade to Montreal, which came just three weeks after he was released from the program. And then he had it stolen away by the injury that occurred in a meaningless pre-season game.

It caused more pain than what Laine was physically feeling after bumping knees with Toronto’s Cedric Pare.

But on Tuesday, Laine was feeling something totally different. And, contrary to what he said, he absolutely deserved it after working so hard to return earlier than expected.

“I mean, I talked with my therapist about this—that I was a little nervous yesterday,” Laine said, “and I just decided that putting this jersey on today is an achievement after everything. 

“Everything that comes after that is a plus.”

He won’t be the only beneficiary, though. 

Look at what his presence alone did for Juraj Slafkovsky and Kirby Dach against the Islanders. 

They came into the game having seldom found their best selves through the first 24 contests of the season, and they came out of it feeling like they helped contribute to a full-team win.

“I feel I was playing a lot of body today, and I made their Ds give away the puck,” said Slafkovsky, who had six of Montreal’s 37 hits in the game. 

The six-foot-three, 225-pound winger, alongside Laine and Dach (six-foot-four, 215 pounds), left a good impression on St. Louis.

“I felt that line did some good work together,” he said, “and they showed me that they could be something really good.”

The ripple effect of that was the one the Canadiens were hoping for when they traded Jordan Harris to Columbus to acquire Laine and a second-round pick.

With the Islanders focused on Nick Suzuki’s line and Dach’s line, Christian Dvorak’s line with Josh Anderson and Brendan Gallagher got matchups in their favour and tilted the ice—controlling 80.3 per cent of the shot attempts and 84.52 per cent of the expected goals at five-on-five.

Behind them, Emil Heineman, Jake Evans and Joel Armia were at 71.43 per cent and 75.97 per cent in those respective categories.

Suzuki’s line played reasonably well, and he took the momentum—and energy—from the four-line distribution in regulation to notch the winning goal on a great play by Mike Matheson in overtime.

Laine was thrilled to see it—not just the game ending, but it ending as a Canadiens win.

“He kept saying (he felt awful) after the first intermission,” said Anderson. “He was like, ‘I only have 20 seconds in me, and I’m done,’ and I was like, ‘I don’t know about that, it looks like you’re dominating out there.’”

You could just see the skill pop all over the ice over 17:27, as Laine navigated this key first step on his new journey.

The man who wears No. 92 for the Canadiens said he’s looking forward to taking the next ones.

“It’s obviously good after a win and, overall, l’m feeling good,” Laine concluded. “Just being back helps mentally. Just being around everybody and just being able to play here is a blessing, and I’m just super thankful to have this opportunity and I’m just trying to make the most out of it.”

It’s hard to imagine he won’t, as he begins to feel better and better throughout games.