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MONTREAL — As far as playoff beards go, this one was a little spotty.
But then, too, so had been his game so far.
There is no need, not in Montreal at the Bell Centre, to check your program to see when No. 48, Danny Briere, has the puck — the crowd underlines his every shift and move with a cascade of boos worthy of a federal power grab.
The tiny centre — he stands on a soapbox for interviews just to be level with the cameras — came out of the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs as the NHL's leading postseason scorer, but he had so far not been a force in the Montreal rink, where the dislike is as intense as the checking.
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A small, quick man who sometimes looks like a weasel in a woodshed as he works opposition corners, Briere is a puck-control player, one whose need for the puck is directly connected to his success with it.
Montreal, however, had become so adept at preventing him from getting that puck, or knocking him off it, that at times it seems the boos were turning to jeers.
The reason for such animosity is an old story: last summer, despite an open invitation to the Gatineau, Que., native to join the Canadiens for many millions of dollars, the unrestricted free agent elected instead to sign with Philadelphia for eight years and $52-million (U.S.).
It made him, at 30, the highest paid player in the league this year at $10-million.
A far cry from the 25-year-old who was placed on waivers by the Phoenix Coyotes during the 2002-2003 season and went unclaimed by every single one of the other 29 teams — including the Montreal Canadiens.
But hockey's a funny game. Sometimes people, too, get the bounces.
Briere spent a while feeling terribly sorry for himself way back then, "looked in the mirror" and simply decided to prove everyone wrong. He became more determined, took strength training and benefited hugely from the lockout year that re-invented the game to reward speed and skill rather than hooking and holding.
Briere shone. He became a scoring sensation with the Buffalo Sabres, was MVP in an all-star game and cashed in big last summer — only to have the season turn into a bit of a struggle.
He had anticipated playing with the Flyers' magnificent Simon Gagne. He even studied game tapes to get a sense of Gagne's creativity on the ice. But then Gagne got hurt early, the Flyers lost their game and a trading-deadline pickup of journeyman Vaclav Prospal turned Briere back into the on-ice force his contract had demanded.
He had been magnificent against the Washington Capitals, scoring the winning goal in three of the four victories. But against Montreal, he hadn't seemed quite his expected self.
Perhaps it had been the booing. He shook his head. The boos, he said, are "a compliment."
The negative roar every time he touched the puck, he said, "means they don't want you to succeed."
He, on the other side, is always desperate to succeed, no matter if it's at cards or video games or NHL playoffs.
"His competitive streak is really going to shine," predicted Flyers goaltender Martin Biron, Briere's close friend and his former roommate when both were with the Sabres.
Well, it hadn't. At least not yet. He had spoken earlier in the day about the importance of protecting leads, of getting ahead and staying ahead. There were times against Washington when his team had a lead, only to squander it. In Montreal two nights earlier, the Flyers had gone up 2-0, only to have Montreal come back, score a tying goal in the dying moments with the Montreal goaltender pulled, and then win it in overtime.
It seemed a replay was underway here Saturday night. The Flyers again went up 2-0, but could not hold it. Montreal came back late in the first period with a power play goal to cut the lead to 2-1 and was regularly storming the Philadelphia net in the second.
But then, around the 13 minute mark, Briere and his linemates — Prospal on one wing, big Scotty Hartnell a fresh jersey on the other — had the sort of shift they'd been expected to have.
Briere found the puck on his stick to the right of the Montreal goal. He squirted, weasel-like, around one defender and cut fast across in front of the crease, using a fake to bring Montreal goaltender Carey Price to his knees and then slipping the puck into the far side where Price's stabbing pad was just a moment to late.
The lead was not only protected, as the little man from Gatineau said it must be, but he had scored the goal that would stand as the winner in the Flyers' 4-2 win that tied the series 1-1.
Five victories for Philadelphia since the beginning of the playoffs, and the $52-million man has scored the most important goal in four of them.
"It was a very good feeling," he said about seeing that puck slip in under Price's pad and just over the line.
"But it isn't about myself."
It is, however, every time he touches a puck in this city.
