Canadiens’ Tatar enjoys being in the spotlight
We’re playing for the fans and I really appreciate mine. It’s always nice to see fans enjoying the game. I think he had a great time.
Tomas Tatar has been winning over Canadiens fans since being acquired from the Vegas Golden Knights on Sept. 10 as part of the Max Pacioretty trade. One of those fans is 20-yearold construction worker Derek Toulouse, who expressed his appreciation for Tatar while attending a game between the Canadiens and the Vegas Golden Knights on Nov. 10 at the Bell Centre. Before the game, a TV cameraman filmed Toulouse walking in the concourse area at the Bell Centre wearing a Canadiens sweater and holding a can of beer in his hand. “Tataaaaaaaaaarrrr!” Toulouse said, pointing at the camera. Toulouse then walked out of the camera’s view, before returning and standing very close to it while pointing and saying dramatically: “Tomas Tataaaaaaaaaarrrr!” Tatar ended up scoring the winning goal that night in a 5-4 victory over the Golden Knights in Pacioretty’s return to the Bell Centre and the video went viral. After Tatar saw the video, he responded on Twitter, writing: “Absolute legend. I owe this guy a few more brewskies.” Tatar was later able to make contact with Toulouse on Instagram and invited him and his friend who also appeared in the video to be his guests for Tuesday night’s game against the Carolina Hurricanes at the Bell Centre. Tatar got tickets for the two fans and then met with them outside the locker room after the 2-1 loss to the Hurricanes. “He made me laugh that day when I found out what he did,” Tatar said after practice Friday in Brossard. “I just started laughing when I saw the video ... I thought it was pretty funny. I thought it was pretty awesome. We’re playing for the fans and I really appreciate mine. It’s always nice to see fans enjoying the game. I think he had a great time.” Toulouse certainly did. “It’s crazy,” Toulouse told NHL. com after meeting Tatar Tuesday night. “I wasn’t expecting this at all. It’s a lot of fun. To come to the game and get to meet Tatar, it’s a great experience. I think he is talented, he works hard. I am really happy he plays for my favourite team now. “It is an easy name to pronounce for a francophone,” Toulouse added. “After a few beers, it was easy for me to go in front of the camera. It (was) only the next morning that I realized how big it was. All my friends were texting me, telling me I was everywhere.” It’s still early, but the Canadiens are looking like winners in the three-for-one trade GM Marc Bergevin worked out with the Golden Knights. The Canadiens got Tatar, Nick Suzuki and a second-round pick at next year’s NHL Draft in exchange for Pacioretty. Heading into Saturday night’s game against the New York Rangers at the Bell Centre (7 p.m., SN, TVA Sports, TSN 690 Radio) Tatar has 10-9-19 totals in 25 games and is plus-2 while playing on a line with Phillip Danault and Brendan Gallagher. Suzuki, a 19-year-old forward who was selected in the first round (13th overall) of the 2017 NHL Draft by the Golden Knights, has 19-20-39 totals in 26 games with the OHL’s Owen Sound Attack. After a slow start in Vegas, Pacioretty has exploded with eight goals in his past seven games and the former Canadiens captain now has 10-5-15 totals in 23 games. In the end, this is a trade that could end up helping both teams. Things didn’t work out for Tatar in Vegas after the Golden Knights acquired him from the Detroit Red Wings at the NHL trade deadline last season in exchange for a first-round pick at this year’s draft, a second-round pick next year and a third-round pick in 2021. In 20 regular-season games with Vegas, Tatar had 2-4-6 totals and was minus-11 before being a healthy scratch for 12 of 20 playoffs games as the Golden Knights advanced to the Stanley Cup final. Things have gone much better for Tatar in Montreal, and he’s enjoying everything about being a Canadien. “I think we’re feeling a lot of support from the fans this season,” he said. “I think we’re trying to work hard for them on the ice and they really appreciate it. They stand behind us. They’ve been loud every time we’ve played at home and we can feel the support. “In Canada, hockey is the No. 1 sport and you see it through the media and through the outside when you walk around the city,” Tatar added. “There’s a lot of fans out there who watch hockey and want to talk about hockey. Personally, I’m really enjoying it. I’ve got to experience the city a lot lately. The restaurants and food are great. The city is beautiful. The winter is pretty tough, but I’m kind of used to it so it’s not such a big deal to me. I was really surprised at first how beautiful Montreal is . ... I’ve never really experienced it before. So I’m enjoying my time here, for sure.” It sounds like life is pretty good right now for Tomas Tataaaaaaaaaarrrr!