The first chant sounded seconds after the puck was dropped. As if on cue, No. 44 got possession.
“Pa-GEAU! Pa-GEAU! Pa-GEAU! Pa-GEAU!!
To the tune of the Ole song at the Bell Centre…
Yes, Jean-Gabriel Pageau returned to Ottawa Thursday night with his new New York Islanders team, and fans at the Canadian Tire Centre didn’t have to be prompted to pay homage. At the first TV timeout, a lovely video tribute to Pageau hit all the high points — Pageau playoff goals vs. the Habs and Rangers, Pageau training, Pageau with fans, family and friends. Pageau whipping fans into a frenzy with the gestures of his arms following a clutch goal.
“Bienvenue chez toi,” read the scoreboard.
Welcome home.
Watching from the visitors bench, Pageau, encouraged by his teammates, skated out in a short loop and casually waved in gratitude.
“It was a great mark of respect from my teammates and nice appreciation from the fans and my ex-teammates,” Pageau said afterwards. “It was really touching. There was a lot going through my mind at that point and I was trying to focus on the game.”
Then the Isles went out and let another one get away. Pageau hit one of several goalposts for the luckless Islanders who fell to 0-3-2 since acquiring Pageau. Pageau played 18:43 and recorded three shots, including a couple of great chances. He was minus-1 and was slightly victimized on Anthony Duclair’s goal, Ottawa’s third in a 4-3 win. Brady Tkachuk scored the winner, his 20th, for the nothing-to-lose Senators.
“We need more urgency in our game,” Pageau said. “It’s desperation time right now.”
For Pageau fans here, it was a chance to enjoy a home-ice victory while saluting one of the most popular Senators of this era. How could they not welcome a hometown hero from across the river who stood five-foot-nine, and seemingly five-feet of him was heart?
He never relented in a game, always rising to the biggest occasions — scoring a hat trick in an unforgettable playoff win over the Montreal Canadiens in 2013, just the second player in Senators history, after Daniel Alfredsson, to score a playoff hattie. That signature performance helped lead Ottawa to a playoff series victory over an Original Six rival for the first time since the Senators rejoined the NHL in 1992. Pageau then produced an encore against the New York Rangers in 2017 — a four-goal game including the overtime winner.
On the day of his return, Senators winger Bobby Ryan called Pageau “a guy who wore every hat here, not only on the ice but in the room. He was a popular guy.”
In the weeks before Pageau was traded, Ryan was going through a private hell, enduring rehab for an alcohol dependency. You just know that Pageau was a pillar of support for Ryan during this time, one of those “hats” No. 44 wore. Ryan made sure to thank him before he left.
“It just becomes about checking in,” Ryan said. “I went and saw him right after the trade. It was a game day so the trade kind of gets lost in the game. But I went and spent some time with him, helped him get ready to go and just said thanks for everything. I sat right next to him in the room for years and he’s one of my closest friends I played with here. I just told him I appreciated everything on behalf of myself and my teammates and wished him luck.
“I’m very happy he got what he got there. The Islanders fans are going to love him. The players are going to love him.”
It was love at first sight, Pageau scoring a goal and getting in a fight to defend a teammate during his Islanders debut. Fans quickly got into the Pageau chants.
“We were joking,” said New York centre Matt Barzal, “he’s a Long Island legend in his first game.” Now, New York has to remember how to win again.
Hours before game time it was odd to see No. 44 playing hallway soccer with the visiting team, not the homies. Pageau in royal blue, orange and white. After the skate, the 27-year-old was gracious, what else, speaking about his new and old teams.
“I am happy with my new team but I’m also grateful for everything that I left here in Ottawa,” Pageau said.
He didn’t even mind shaving off his moustache for that stickler, Isles general manager Lou Lamoriello.
“It makes me look younger, a little bit I think,” Pageau quipped.
I’d shave my moustache, too, if someone said he’d pay me $30 million, the Pageau haul on a six-year deal with the Isles.
“Everyone has been treating me so nice with my new team, making me feel comfortable,” Pageau said. “On the other side, again, Ottawa did the same thing when I first started. I am so grateful for all the help they gave me. They gave me my first chance — all the trainers, the strength coach, the coaches, my teammates, they made me a better player.”
And of course he thanked Senators fans
Considering he was traded on Feb. 24, Pageau said this felt like coming home after a 10-day road trip. And how did he spend that one night at his own home? Mostly looking for clean undies to pack.
“I had dinner with my wife and our two little dogs, picked up clothes, underwear, to get ready to go back to New York,” Pageau said.
Is it nice to get this “first game back” out of the way soon, someone asked?
“Who wouldn’t be glad to come back home and play in front of friends and family?” Pageau said, rhetorically. “And those fans that were awesome to me. They were always supportive if I was having a bad game or a good game. They were always there.”
That’s because Pageau was there for them. Toujours, Pageau. Until he moved on.
In the end it was just another day in Ottawa when everyone was expected to turn the page, this time on ‘Pager.’
“We have to focus on the players who are still here,” said Senators head coach D.J. Smith.
Fair enough. Yet, Smith knows as well as anyone that good teams, ultimately, keep most of their good players. The day that Ottawa is one of those teams can’t come soon enough.
Boychuk recovering
Islanders head coach Barry Trotz provided another update on defenceman Johnny Boychuk, who was cut near the eye by an errant skate in a frightening mishap Tuesday against the Montreal Canadiens. Trotz says he has been to see Boychuk, and he is in good spirits despite suffering a cut to the eyelid requiring 90 stitches.
“You see it live and we have a monitor there,” Trotz said, “it’s around the eye and you’re just hoping it’s not extremely serious. Ninety stitches is a lot but the end result — 90 stitches is better than losing an eye. That was very fortunate.”
Trotz appreciated the humour Boychuk displayed a day after the accident, tweeting out that he was late in thanking all his well-wishers because his “facial recognition” system was not working.
[relatedlinks]
