The boards were adorned with "Guy Lafleur, 10, 1951-2022" along with a likeness of Lafleur's autograph, and during the ceremony a spotlight was shined on his banner in the rafters for his retired No. 10. Canadiens players, wearing a black circular patch with "10" in white on the right breast of their jerseys, skated onto the ice with no helmets and their hair flowing freely during warmups in a nod to Lafleur.
Following the game, Montreal players gathered in the corner and raised their sticks to salute Lafleur's No. 10 banner.
Bob Gainey and Yvan Cournoyer were among Lafleur's Canadiens teammates on hand for the ceremony and for Montreal's first home game since his death, against one of its greatest rivals.
"We felt in the third period that Guy was with us, and it was close," Montreal coach Martin St. Louis said. "It was fun to have the legends behind our bench for a very memorable evening. I told our players, 'You play so many games in the League that the regular season games, you only remember a few, but you will remember this one.'"
Gainey said of Lafleur, "He was our best player, our most talented player, he worked as hard or put in as much effort or more than the other players. He would not put himself above us but we knew when the game started he was above us. That created a camaraderie within our group, I think, that was appreciated and it reflected his own personality from a small town (Thurso, Quebec) and his background.
"And he carried a much larger weight and responsibility away from the rink than most of us did. And I think we could understand how heavy that was for him at times, but he found a way to shoulder it and be very good at it."
Lafleur won the Stanley Cup five times (1973, 1976-79) in his 14 seasons with the Canadiens (1971-85) and is the leading scorer in their history (1,246 points; 518 goals, 728 assists).
"When I met him for the first time at the first practice in Verdun (Quebec) I went home and I said, 'Wow, that's going to be a [heck] of a hockey player,'" Cournoyer said. "And I won five Stanley Cups before he arrived and I was so happy, I said well now I've got a chance to win a lot more Stanley Cups. And if I had been a scout I think I would have done very well because I was right."
Rick Green had to try to stop Lafleur as a Washington Capitals defenseman in the late 1970s before becoming his teammate when he was traded to the Canadiens prior to the 1982-83 season, calling it a promotion to come to Montreal.
"Basically when I was on Washington, I was on the ice a lot of times when he was doing his goal-scoring," Green said. "And then to be a part of the same team as him and getting a chance to experience what he was like as a player and as a person was a once-in-a-lifetime dream."
Green said Lafleur's intimidating speed was one of the things that set him apart.
"When he decided to crank it up and get going, you had to back up," Green said. "He just had outstanding speed, not to mention that he had a knack around the net. He didn't get that many goals and points by accident, he made good on them more than not. Just an exceptional talent and I was really fortunate to have a chance to play with him."
Guy Lapointe, Rejean Houle, Pierre Bouchard, Pierre Mondou, Chris Nilan, Lucien DeBlois, Gilbert Delorme and Norm Dupont were also among Lafleur's Montreal teammates in attendance.
Lafleur will lie in state for public visitation at Bell Centre from May 1-2. The province of Quebec will hold a state funeral for him at Mary Queen of the World Cathedral on May 3.
"I was watching a TV show yesterday because he wrote a book, and he said in his book that he wasn't satisfied when he retired at 33," Cournoyer said. "He came back (nearly four years later, with the New York Rangers) and he said, 'Well, I came back so when I'm going to be 70, I'm going to enjoy life a little bit more.' And he died at 70. So you know, life is cruel sometimes. And I said, 'I don't believe this. He said he was going to be happy after 70 and he passed away.' So that was very hard."
