On Feb. 23, 1985, rookie Patrick Roy made his first NHL appearance against the Winnipeg Jets. Dressed as the Montreal Canadiens backup since Steve Penney was injured, he expected to spend the game on the bench, but after veteran Doug Soetaert gave four goals on only 11 shots through 40 minutes, coach Jacques Lemaire decided he had enough.
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He burst into the dressing room and screamed, “Roy, you take the net!” before slamming the door. The rookie shook his head and checked with veteran Guy Carbonneau to see if he understood what the coach had said. Just like that, it was time for Saint-Patrick to start writing his legend.
Soetaert was also fuming about being pulled for a rookie against his former team, but Roy’s teammate played a solid third frame in front of the young, masked man. The Quebec City native only had to make two saves in his twenty minutes.
At the start of the third, the game was tied 4-4, but Tom Kurvers and Chris Nilan scored to give the Canadiens and Roy a win. The insurance marker was “Knuckles” Nilan’s 17th goal of the season, on his way to career-high of 21 goals, 37 points, and 358 penalty minutes.
Funnily enough, Roy’s first win was acquired against the man who would soon become his backup: Brian Hayward. After the Canadiens won the Stanley Cup in 1986, thanks to Roy’s fantastic performances in the playoffs, Penney was dealt to Winnipeg for Hayward.
Nobody knew in February 1985 how important Roy would be in the Canadiens’ history, but St-Patrick was the last goaltender to win a Stanley Cup in Montreal. He did it twice, in 1986 and 1993, and he was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as the playoffs MVP each time.
The 1993 conquest was unexpected and came against the best player in history, Wayne Gretzky, and his Los Angeles Kings. While Canada’s love for the Great One took a serious hit in the 4 Nations Face-Off when he gave a thumbs up to the American team and his way to the ceremonial faceoff, nobody can deny that he remains the best player in history.
It was in that final that Roy, after making a save on Thomas Sandstrom, winked at him. A wink caught by cameras would forever be part of Roy’s legend. When he was traded to the Detroit Red Wings in December 1995, the goalie had played 551 games wearing the Sainte-Flanelle and had a 289-175-66 record. He was 25 wins short of Jacques Plante’s record, but he’s now third in Canadiens’ history as Carey Price signed 361 wins with the Habs before the state of his knee forced him to retire.
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