Patrick Roy: “Great gesture from the Canadian”

Patrick Roy was the star of Canada's national anthem before Thursday night's game at the Bell Centre, and he enjoyed it.

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Indeed, during the Oh Canada concert, images of Casso's career appeared on the giant screen while the crowd gave him a standing ovation and the former No. 33 was moved.

“I would like to thank the Canadian organization, it was a really nice gesture on their part and very much appreciated on my part. The fans were amazing as usual, and they are always A-1 fans. I am very grateful for everything that happened leading up to the game.”

“I didn't know what to expect, I never looked at the scoreboard, but I ended up looking a little bit and saw something. In a game like this, you just have to stay focused. I've said that from the beginning, it wasn't about me, I just wanted to We focus on our game.”

goosebumps

Roy did everything to protect his players from the distractions associated with his return to the Bale Center and according to Jean-Gabriel Pageau he succeeded.

“He's really a team man, and you can see why he's been so successful in his career and why he's been a captain. He really brings a great team spirit, he really wanted the focus to be on the game and not on all the attention he was going to get that he also deserved. We knew what was going to happen.” “And it was a special moment for us as well.”

The striker from Ottawa admitted that he felt emotions during this tribute.

“Playoff games are always special here, but I would say this was one of the games where I felt the most excitement during the national anthem. As a Quebecer, when you grow up watching a Hall of Fame legend, it's something that's very deserving.”

good start

The Islanders found themselves 3-0 down midway through the first half, but Roy felt his men were still good from the start.

“For me, we had a good start to the game, and we had several chances to score. [Samuel] Montembault made several good saves. “We definitely have to correct the turnovers and this ball that was sent into the stands, it breaks our momentum and greatly affects the team’s performance.”

Roy also took some time to talk to his players after the Canadian's third goal and took the opportunity to calm his team down.

“He was positive throughout his speech, as he talked about getting back to basics by continuing to work and that is what we did until the end,” Pageau explained.

Resilience

When he was a goalkeeper, Patrick Roy fought for every ball and this is what he wants to pass on to his new students.

“It's the culture we want to have, we want to be flexible and that's what we proved until the end. We emptied everything we had, and it's difficult to come back from behind.”

His team scored two power-play goals to make it 3-3 late in the game, but Sean Monahan scored the winner just over a minute after the equalizer. So Roy could have been angry, but on the contrary he was calm, composed and positive in front of the media he spoke to for seven minutes.

“I'm very happy with our players' resilience. We won the second and third periods, and we had the mentality we were looking for. “It's a shame how it ended because they worked so hard to equalize the score.