Prust won’t hesitate to drop the gloves
Scored clear victory on opening night
The “new sheriff in town,” was how Brandon Prust playfully was labelled back in mid-September during an appearance on the RDS hockey gabfest L’Antichambre.
Four months later, his badge not a star but a giant CH on his chest, Prust showed that the Canadiens equipment crew had given their lawman a pair of gloves a size too large, given how quickly they fell off his hands during the Habs’ season-opener Saturday against Toronto.
Prust and Maple Leafs enforcer Mike Brown locked up precisely seven minutes into the visitors’ 2-1 Bell Centre victory, exchanging closed-fist unpleasantries at centre ice.
The 28-year-old Canadiens winger scored the free-swinging decision, coming on just his second shift with the Habs, when he yanked the jersey over Brown’s head and the officials jumped in.
“The fight was half-decent,” Prust said in self-critique, this not the first time he’s thrown down with Brown. “He’s a tough kid and we battled back and forth. The refs jumped in kind of early, I would have liked it to be a little longer.” He grinned. “Maybe next time.” That wasn’t even the start of Prust’s fun, coming in his first game since signing a four-year, $10-million contract as an unrestricted free agent via the New York Rangers on July 1.
In Saturday’s emotional pregame opening ceremony, Prust was the first Canadien to skate from the Zamboni entrance to hold aloft the team’s ceremonial torch, taking it at centre ice from captain Brian Gionta.
“That was awesome,” he said. “To be part of that is quite an honour, just skating out there, the fans going crazy. Just to take the torch from Gio was something I’ll never forget.”
A few minutes later, on his first shift 46 seconds into the game, Prust appeared to have scored his maiden goal as a Canadien, sweeping the puck as he fell past Toronto goalie Ben Scrivens.
Unfortunately, linemate Ryan White was backing into Scrivens at that moment, being called for goaltender interference to nullify the goal.
(In fact, this should have been Prust’s second uncounted goal as a Canadien; he literally bulled goalie Peter Budaj into the net on Thursday while scoring in an intrasquad scrimmage.)
Prust finished Saturday with three hits, a blocked shot, a take-away and 10:09 of ice time on 17 shifts, his only shot at the Toronto goal blocked en route.
“It was fun. Obviously it would have been a little more fun with a win, but it felt pretty good out there,” he said Monday following a Bell Centre practice, the Canadiens preparing for Tuesday’s game against the visiting Florida Panthers.
“We’re getting to know each other, me being new and a couple other new guys. But we’re skating well and I think we’re just going to get better from here.”
The line of Prust, White and Colby Armstrong had more grit than a hardware store’s sandpaper aisle. Prust lifted the crowd out of their seats during his dance with Brown, and he’s very quickly becoming a fan favourite.
He’ll never hesitate to shed his mitts should the occasion suggest it will turn the tide for his team, or should a teammate need defending.
With the Rangers last season, Prust fought an NHL lead-equalling 20 times. He scrapped 18, 25 and 16 times the three seasons before that, 2009-10 split between Calgary and New York, 2008-09 between Calgary and Phoenix.
There was some talk postgame with Habs netminder Carey Price about the snow kicked up at Toronto goalie Scrivens by Tomas Plekanec, resulting in a power play that yielded what ultimately was the Leafs’ winning goal.
Price said he’d seek no retribution himself for such a snowy shower.
“That’s not my job, No. 8 will take care of it,” he said, nodding toward Prust’s stall.
“He’s getting pretty comfortable, huh?” Prust said of his goalie with a laugh, so informed. “If I’m out on the ice and even if I’m not, if someone’s going to take some liberties with Carey, I’m going to make sure that they know I’m around.”
By the look of practice, Prust won’t have the same roughneck teammates Tuesday against the Panthers.
If Monday trios remain intact, Prust will line up with 18-year-old Alex Galchenyuk and 20-year-old Brendan Gallagher, veterans of one NHL game — Galchenyuk’s on Saturday.
“I’ll get on pucks and try to get it to them,” Prust said of his role. “There’s some skill over there. My job is just to create some room and some energy for them, to hunt down pucks and try to get it to them.”
Practice had followed Prust’s first Canadiens team photo, for which he stepped into the second row between Max Pacioretty and Davey Desharnais.
He’s been in other team shots during stops in Calgary, Phoenix, Calgary again and New York. But Monday’s, Prust said, might have been the best organized, the Canadiens marketing department using a large mug-shot chart to direct every player and executive.
“This one was a little more on time. In New York, we always had to wait a half-hour for (Rangers owner James) Dolan. Torts would be losing it,” he said of notoriously short-fused Rangers coach John Tortorella.
And just the thought of Torts going bananas — one of the great things in hockey — had him laughing again.