Panache was the phrase for Man Lafleur, a towering determine in Montreal hockey historical past who swooped down the correct wing for the Canadiens within the Seventies, golden locks flowing behind, earlier than freezing many a goaltender along with his lethal slapshot.
Lafleur, typically described as a rock star on the N.H.L.’s most glamorous group of the period, died after three years of present process remedy for lung most cancers, his sister Lise Lafleur announced on Friday. He was 70 years outdated.
In Lafleur’s prime, the Montreal Canadiens had been arguably the best group in league historical past. They received 4 consecutive Stanley Cups from 1976 to 1979 with the 1976-77 group shedding simply eight of 80 video games within the common season. Followers nonetheless argue whether or not that model of the Canadiens or the one within the Nineteen Fifties that received 5 consecutive Cups is one of the best.
There was by no means an argument over who was the best star on the Seventies Bleu, Blanc et Rouge. Not solely was Lafleur a prolific goal-scorer, however he additionally performed hockey the best way French Canadian followers cherished to see it performed, with type. Followers across the N.H.L. knew him as The Flower, the literal translation of Lafleur, however in Quebec his nickname was the extra becoming Le Démon Blond.
He mixed one of the best traits of his predecessors, the Quebec hockey icons Maurice (Rocket) Richard and Jean Béliveau. Whereas Lafleur didn’t have Richard’s sheer energy on his skates, he did have an murderer’s eyes as he neared the web with the puck on his stick. His grace and class had been a better match with the stately Béliveau, as Lafleur was a gifted playmaker in addition to scorer.
For six consecutive seasons, from 1974-75 via 1979-80, Lafleur scored at the very least 50 objectives. He performed 961 video games for the Canadiens from 1971 to 1984, ending with 1,246 factors, which continues to be the franchise report.
Lafleur’s enjoying days with the Canadiens didn’t finish nicely. By 1984, his former linemate Jacques Lemaire was the pinnacle coach, and so they clashed over how the sport ought to be performed. Lafleur retired early within the 1984-85 season however got here again 4 years later — after he was elected to the Hockey Corridor of Fame — to play three extra seasons with the New York Rangers and Quebec Nordiques.
“He was an important participant,” mentioned Scotty Bowman, who was the pinnacle coach of the Canadiens from 1971 to 1979. “I don’t know if any participant in historical past had the strain he did. When he obtained drafted by Montreal in ’71, that they had simply received the Cup, Béliveau had simply retired.
“These had been huge sneakers to fill, coming into Montreal to switch a participant you could’t exchange.”
Lafleur was the lineal successor to Béliveau, and earlier than him, Richard, because the Canadiens’ French celebrity. This was no straightforward place in hockey-mad Montreal. Instant success was demanded.
On high of that, Canadiens common supervisor Sam Pollock had used all of his notorious wiles to land Lafleur, who grew up within the small Quebec paper-mill city of Thurso. He determined the California Golden Seals had been one of the best wager to complete final within the 1970-71 season, thus getting the primary decide within the newbie draft. Pollock persuaded the Seals to commerce the decide, and later, when it regarded just like the Los Angeles Kings would possibly fall beneath the Seals within the standings, Pollock traded veteran middle Ralph Backstrom to Los Angeles. Backstrom ran up 27 factors in 33 video games, and the Kings stayed forward of the Seals, which allowed Pollock to take Lafleur first general.
However the Canadiens had a number of expertise, and even a prodigy like Lafleur needed to earn his spot within the lineup. This didn’t mollify the followers, particularly when two French Canadian gamers taken simply after Lafleur within the 1971 draft, Marcel Dionne (Detroit Pink Wings) and Richard Martin (Buffalo Sabres), began scoring instantly.
“After all, all people in Montreal was evaluating Lafleur to each Dionne and Martin,” Bowman mentioned. “They had been enjoying common minutes, and he wasn’t. He had loads to beat. It took some time.
“He was a quiet man — by no means complained about his lot. There was quite a lot of strain on him, however he saved it to himself,” he mentioned.
The breakthrough got here within the 1974-75 season, when he was paired with left-winger Steve Shutt and scored 53 objectives. For a lot of the following 10 years, they had been some of the feared duos within the league.
Lafleur’s most well-known objective got here on Could 10, 1979, when the Canadiens had been on the verge of shedding their likelihood for a fourth consecutive Stanley Cup. With two minutes left within the third interval, they had been down 4-3 to the Boston Bruins within the seventh and deciding recreation of the Cup semifinal.
However the Bruins took that well-known too-many-men penalty, after which got here the quintessential Lafleur objective with 74 seconds left. He picked up the puck in his personal finish, circled after which streaked up the correct facet. Lafleur despatched the puck to Lemaire, who carried it into the Boston zone with Lafleur behind him. Lemaire left a drop cross, and Lafleur, in full flight along with his dirty-blond mane streaming, stepped right into a slapshot that left Boston goaltender Gilles Gilbert sprawled on his again.
The objective despatched the sport into time beyond regulation, and Yvon Lambert scored to win it for the Canadiens. The New York Rangers had been dispatched in 5 video games, and the Canadiens, and Lafleur, had a fourth championship.
