If there’s one thing we learned Saturday, it’s that Tanner Pearson is not the type to pour out his emotions.
The veteran forward spoke with the media after the Canadian’s narrow 3-2 victory against the Chicago Blackhawks. Pearson had just scored his first goal in his new uniform. But, above all, his first goal in almost a year.
Pearson had not scored since October 28, 2022, since his 2022-2023 season was reduced to 14 games due to a broken left hand that became a real medical fiasco, which we described here.
In these circumstances, the simple fact of scoring, on a wrist shot generated by a visibly well-healed hand, could have aroused emotions, even tears in the rain, provided it rained at the Bell Centre, which however seems very improbable.
But it must be said that Pearson hardly needed reassurance on his hand, even after he had been rather faded in training camp. Despite the uncertainty surrounding him when he arrived in Montreal, he knew that everything was back to normal.
“I probably had some good feeling [in my hand] in mid-August,” said number 70. “I had a little pain, nothing crazy, but in August I was starting to feel like I had some pain. good control of my shot. »
Pearson wasn’t the only one to smile. From his home in Hershey, where he has been hiding since his dismissal by the Vancouver Canucks, Bruce Boudreau also smiled when he learned that his former protégé had broken the ice.
It must be said that Boudreau and Pearson had some great times together. The 2021-2022 Canucks, after the arrival of Boudreau behind the bench at the beginning of December, were one of the good stories in the NHL that season. The Vancouverites won their first seven games under Boudreau. It was the start of a surge in which “Bruce, there it is” became a veritable anthem at Rogers Arena.
“He had been an important ingredient in our push,” recalls Boudreau, in an interview with La Presse. Author of only 8 points in 25 games under Travis Green, Pearson had scored 26 in 43 games under Boudreau.
Boudreau had just been let go by the Canucks the last time he saw Pearson in person. “He had an IV in his arm. It was like in the hospital, with the serum. I feared his career was over, because missing a year of hockey is a lot. »
Speed has never been Pearson’s trademark, and by the looks of it, it’s still not a dominant trait of his game. His other qualities, however, can still apply, even after 11 months of absence.
“He’s an easy player to lead,” describes Boudreau. I would sit down with him, tell him what I wanted, what I thought, and he was very honest in his self-assessment. That’s why he’s easy to coach: he doesn’t live in a world of unicorns, thinking he’s playing well when he’s not. »
Boudreau remembers him as “a good teammate, who saved penalties and blocked shots.” “When you’re a good teammate, guys want to hang around you. The players in Montreal will gravitate towards him,” he predicts.
During the Zone Exit podcast, his former teammate Antoine Roussel described him as “a complementary player”. “You play him with good players, he’ll be better. You make him play with less good players, he will be OK. But it is not he who will be the spark plug of the trio,” illustrated the adopted Saguenéen.
“That’s a very good description,” confirms Boudreau. This is why he can play with anyone. He looks at the trio. If he has to be the defensive player, he’s going to be. If he has to support the attack, he will. He’s smart, and smart players know how to adapt. »
With his very sober style, Pearson is the kind of player that needs to be observed over a longer period of time to fully understand him. This will therefore be followed in the coming weeks. In the meantime, the player obviously enjoyed his first match of the season in front of Montreal fans as a member of the Bleu-Blanc-Rouge.
“You go in for the warm-up and it’s already full. You pull into the parking lot for the game, people are waiting outside. It’s special to play here, and see how the fans care about the team. »
Let’s take it for granted that Pearson and Martin St-Louis shook hands when Pearson arrived near Leduc Boulevard, which some nicknamed the Champs-Élysées of Brossard. However, this was not their first handshake. This first meeting took place on the STAPLES Center ice rink in 2014, after Pearson and the Los Angeles Kings beat St. Louis and the New York Rangers to win the Stanley Cup. “He’s a Hall of Famer,” Pearson recalled. You could tell by his habits on the ice: he was so strong, so agile. I was 21 at the time…I’m not saying I was rooting for him, but his story is pretty special. To find him behind the bench today is pretty cool. »