Mike Brophy

Veteran hockey columnist Mike Brophy writes Mondays, Wednesdays and Friday on Sportsnet.ca and appears regularly on Hockeycentral.

Bob Gainey.

Here's hoping Bob Gainey took a little satisfaction in Montreal's Game 1 victory.

I wonder if Bob Gainey was watching his team? Er, his old team.

I wonder if the former general manager of the Montreal Canadiens took just a little joy in the fact the Canadiens defeated the heavily-favored Washington Capitals in the opening game of their best-of-seven Eastern Conference quarter-final series Thursday night? I sure hope he was and he took a little satisfaction in the Habs victory.

That's because in Game 1 we got a glimpse of what might have been - and for that matter, what still may be down the road. We saw players that Gainey recruited and signed come through glowingly.

Michael Cammalleri, who scored just four power play goals this season after firing 19 the year before for the Calgary Flames, clicked with his team holding the man advantage. That is huge for a team that finished with the second best power play in the NHL this season.

Also, Scott Gomez scored a goal. Gomez has come under fire this season for being decidedly unproductive considering he earns $8 million a season. Just 12 goals and 59 points in 78 games ain't cutting it, and yet in the first game of the playoffs he scores. You just know one of the big reasons why Gainey acquired Gomez was because of his Stanley Cup experience with the New Jersey Devils with whom he won two championships. To have him connect in Game 1 is very encouraging.

Brian Gionta, meanwhile, also scored and he was brought to Habland for virtually the same reason as Gomez. He won a Cup with the Devils and while he has never been able to match his monster year of 2005-06 when he erupted for 48 goals, he remains a consistent scoring threat with excellent leadership qualities.

At the other end of the ice, two more of Gainey's acquisitions, defencemen Hal Gill and Jaroslav Spacek, were instrumental in not only keeping Alexander Ovechkin off the scoreboard, but holding him to zero shots on goal. To be fare to Ovechkin, he did have five shots blocked and probably fired another half dozen just wide of the Montreal net. But it was clear he wasn't on his game and at least some of the credit for that has to go to the Montreal defence.

It would probably be overstating it to suggest Gainey had a vision of this particular group of players winning the Stanley Cup this season. But it is also safe to say he had a hunch they would be better citizens off the ice than some of the players he moved out of town and therefore, would stand an increased chance at being successful on the ice. It didn't help matters when, in the opening game of the season, the Canadiens best player, defenceman Andrei Markov, went down with a serious injury. A player that should have been a candidate for the Norris Trophy, given his momentous improvement the past few seasons, was limited to just 45 games. Somehow, the Canadiens held it together and while they barely qualified for the playoffs, they slipped through the door. Now that they are at the dance who knows what will happen?

Arguably Gainey's most significant hire was the guy he placed behind the bench - Jacques Martin. There are some in Montreal who insist Martin only got the job because he is bilingual, but that is not fare. Certainly it helped matters, but Martin has been part of championship teams at the junior and international levels and was the NHL coach of the year with the Ottawa Senators in 1998-99. It's not as though Gainey handed the keys to the car to a kid with a learner's permit.

Watching Montreal beat Washington in Game 1, it was apparent Martin's defensive teachings have sunk in with his players. The Habs paid attention to detail in all three zones and when there were breakdowns, goaltender Jaroslav Halak was there to bail them out. That's what you expect from your starting goaltender, right?

Across the ice, Washington coach Bruce Boudreau - the coach of the year in 2007-08 - slipped to 10-12 in the playoffs. It will now be interesting to see what adjustment he makes. The pressure is now on, especially when you consider the extremely high expectations for the Capitals this year. Certainly having Ovechkin check in will be enough to give the Capitals a much better chance of winning.

The Canadiens gave a very good account of themselves in the series opener, but we all know that means squat in a seven-game affair. It's what you do over the long haul that really matters at this time of year. It's hard to say if they have what it takes to bump off a team that finished 33 points ahead of them in the standings and out-scored them by 101 goals. Frankly, I doubt they do.

But for one night, Bob Gainey's vision came to life. It's just too bad he wasn't there to accept a congratulatory pat on the back.