PETRY RELUCTANTLY SOAKING UP SPOTLIGHT
Veteran defender bringing his ‘A’ game with blue-line leader Weber sidelined
Jeff Petry is not really comfortable in the spotlight, but found himself in it after the Canadiens’ 3-1 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets Monday night at the Bell Centre — and for good reason.
With No. 1 defenceman Shea Weber out of the lineup with a lower-body injury for the fourth straight game, Petry logged a game-high 28:55 of ice time, had an assist and handed out four hits. When the doors to the Canadiens’ locker-room opened to the media after the game, Petry — who sits in the first stall on the right when you walk in — was quickly surrounded by microphones and cameras.
“I’m not one to love the spotlight,” the soft-spoken Petry said after most of the media members had moved on to interview other players. “But, obviously, to have a couple of good games, it’s nice. I know I feel good, but it’s not something that I want to be: at the centre of attention.”
Petry wasn’t named one of the game’s three stars — they were Canadiens goalie Carey Price, forward Brendan Gallagher and Blue Jackets forward Pierre-Luc Dubois, in order — but he played a big role in the victory. Petry also played a big role in Saturday’s 3-0 win over the Buffalo Sabres, logging 24:16 of ice time and scoring a power-play goal.
Weber didn’t take part in practice Tuesday in Brossard, so it’s likely Canadiens coach Claude Julien will be counting on Petry to fill the No. 1 defenceman’s skates again when the Ottawa Senators visit the Bell Centre on Wednesday night (7:30 p.m., SN, RDS, TSN Radio 690).
To put it mildly, Petry did not have a very good start to the season and is still tied with captain Max Pacioretty for the worst plus/minus on the team at minus-11. But Petry has been solid in the last four games without Weber in the lineup and is a big reason why the Canadiens have a 2-1-1 record during that span.
“I can’t pinpoint it,” Petry said after being asked when he felt his season started turning around. “I didn’t feel good about my game and I knew that to get myself back into games I had to skate well early on in the game or get a hit or just be more assertive and I think that kind of turned things around. It was one game I felt pretty good in Dallas (the first without Weber) and I built on that. I had a good game in Nashville (the next game). So it’s just a matter for me of getting a little bit of confidence and I think just skating really gets me into the game.
“I think it’s just my confidence is back up and just skating the puck, moving the puck. I think just being more assertive has really helped me out.”
Petry has size at 6-foot-3 and 208 pounds, but isn’t a very physical defenceman. His game is based on skating and moving the puck — two things he has been doing well in recent games. Those are the things Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin was looking for when he acquired Petry from the Edmonton Oilers in March 2015 in exchange for a second-round pick (Jonas Siegenthaler) and a fourth-round pick (Caleb Jones) at that year’s NHL draft and why that summer the GM signed Petry to a six-year contract worth US$33 million.
While Petry might not be comfortable in the media spotlight, he grew up with a famous father. Dan Petry was a major-league pitcher for 13 seasons and helped the Detroit Tigers win the 1984 World Series. Dan also wasn’t a big fan of the spotlight, but he won between 10 and 19 games for six straight seasons with the Tigers and went 18-8 in the World Series year.
Dan always had an impressive moustache and Petry has grown a very good one this month as part of the Movember campaign to help raise awareness of men’s health issues. On Dec. 13, Petry and some of his Canadiens teammates, including Andrew Shaw, will take part in the Leucan Shaved Head Challenge to raise money for cancer-stricken children as part of the Hockey Fights Cancer campaign.
Petry was only three when his father retired from baseball, but said having a dad who played pro sports has definitely helped him.
“There’s times where I’ve asked him (after) giving up a home run, what’s the most important thing?” Petry said. “And it was to not dwell on the home run. He was a competitive guy and he was saying: ‘I’m going to strike out the next guy.’ So it’s just to have that attitude if something goes wrong or you get scored on when you’re out there … it’s easy to say, ‘Think about your next shift.’ But it’s something you have to learn from because I think there’s times I dwell on a bad pass or a bad play.
“I think that’s something that I’ve heard from him and have started to do lately.”
It sure seems to be working.
I’m not one to love the spotlight. But, obviously, to have a couple of good games, it’s nice.