Montreal Canadiens player PK Subban celebrates his goal against the Ottawa Senators in Montreal's Game 2 win in the NHL play-offs first round on Friday. Paul Chiasson / The Canadian Press / AP / April 19, 2015
Montreal Canadiens player PK Subban celebrates his goal against the Ottawa Senators in Montreal's Game 2 win in the NHL play-offs first round on Friday. Paul Chiasson / The Canadian Press / AP / April 19, 2015
Montreal Canadiens player PK Subban celebrates his goal against the Ottawa Senators in Montreal's Game 2 win in the NHL play-offs first round on Friday. Paul Chiasson / The Canadian Press / AP / April 19, 2015
Montreal Canadiens player PK Subban celebrates his goal against the Ottawa Senators in Montreal's Game 2 win in the NHL play-offs first round on Friday. Paul Chiasson / The Canadian Press / AP / April

You can’t stay mad at PK Subban and, so far, the Montreal Canadiens can’t be beaten in play-offs


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In November, the Montreal sportswriter Michael Farber wrote a profile of PK Subban, star defenceman for the local hockey club, the Montreal Canadiens. The piece ran in Sports Illustrated with the headline: “You Can’t Stay Angry At PK Subban”.

It was never more true than in the first week of the current play-offs.

Here is Subban’s post-season against the Ottawa Senators so far:

Game 1: He delivers a lumberjack-style two-handed slash on Mark Stone that fractures the young Ottawa star’s right wrist and throws in some ligament damage for good measure. Ottawa scores twice during the ensuing five-minute power play. Subban misses the rest of the game while serving his game-misconduct penalty, but Montreal finishes strong to win 4-3. Ottawa fans go ape and demand Subban be suspended; the league demurs. Stone misses a few shifts.

Game 2: Subban is on the ice for every goal of a 3-2 win, including his own 140-kilometre-per-hour one-timer that gives Montreal a 2-1 lead and earns him a big wet kiss on the forehead from his teammate Andrei Markov. Subban is named the game’s first star.

Game 3: Ottawa opens the scoring when Subban takes himself far out of position in order to slam Erik Karlsson against the boards. The Habs trail until late, but Dale Weise bails out the team – and Subban – with a late score and then the overtime winner.

If this alternating pattern holds, Subban ought to play the hero in Wednesday’s Game 4 in Ottawa. A win would give Montreal a series sweep and, next up, a second-round match-up against Tampa Bay or Detroit.

What Subban does in games is always interesting. But in this series, it is something that happened off the ice that most added to Montreal’s lore.

After his Game 1 slash on Stone, Subban was feeling down. Outside the dressing room he crossed paths with a little old lady in her 80s. It was Elise Beliveau, widow of the Canadiens’ legendary player and class act Jean Beliveau.

Elise assured Subban that Game 2 would go better. “I went over to him and he kissed me and I said, ‘Hey, it’s going to be OK on Friday. Wait until then. You’ll have a good game’,” reported the Montreal Gazette.

She even wore her autographed Subban jersey to Game 2 – and stood up so Subban would see her.

Subban, who is really just a big kid, was inspired by this grandmotherly show of trust and affection. “I want to be better for her,” he said.

He even flashed some remorse for his slash, saying, “That’s not something that Mr Beliveau would do.”

This deep reserve of history is not something that a youngish franchise like Ottawa can match.

Another area where Ottawa cannot match Montreal: in net. The Senators’ late-season sensation Andrew Hammond was uninspiring in the first two games of the series. In the regular season “The Hamburglar” had a 94.1 save percentage and lost thrice in 24 games; in the play-offs he has a 91.4 save rate and has lost twice in two games. Ottawa benched him in favour of Craig Anderson for Game 3; alas for Ottawans (the ones who are not Montreal fans), the outcome remained the same.

Meanwhile, the Montreal goalie Carey Price, best in the world at his job, sports a 93.9 save rate. That and his 1.88 goals-against average were, through Monday’s matches, the best of any goalie with three starts in this post-season.

You can’t stay angry at PK Subban. You can’t even get angry at Carey Price. With those two in harness, Montreal is off to a hot start. Stronger foes await.

rmckenzie@thenational.ae

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Sole survivors
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  • George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
  • Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
  • Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
Roll of honour 2019-2020

Dubai Rugby Sevens
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Runners up: Bahrain

West Asia Premiership
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Runners up: UAE Premiership

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4. Sam Bennett (IRL) Deceuninck-QuickStep

5. Caleb Ewan (AUS) Lotto Soudal

General Classification:

1. Adam Yates (GBR) Mitchelton-Scott        16:46:15

2. Tadej Pogacar (SLO) UAE Team Emirates         0:01:07

3. Alexey Lutsenko (KAZ) Astana Pro Team          0:01:35

4. David Gaudu (FRA) Groupama-FDJ         0:01:40

5. Rafal Majka (POL) Bora-Hansgrohe

If you go...

Etihad Airways flies from Abu Dhabi to Kuala Lumpur, from about Dh3,600. Air Asia currently flies from Kuala Lumpur to Terengganu, with Berjaya Hotels & Resorts planning to launch direct chartered flights to Redang Island in the near future. Rooms at The Taaras Beach and Spa Resort start from 680RM (Dh597).

Premier Futsal 2017 Finals

Al Wasl Football Club; six teams, five-a-side

Delhi Dragons: Ronaldinho
Bengaluru Royals: Paul Scholes
Mumbai Warriors: Ryan Giggs
Chennai Ginghams: Hernan Crespo
Telugu Tigers: Deco
Kerala Cobras: Michel Salgado

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Key figures in the life of the fort

Sheikh Dhiyab bin Isa (ruled 1761-1793) Built Qasr Al Hosn as a watchtower to guard over the only freshwater well on Abu Dhabi island.

Sheikh Shakhbut bin Dhiyab (ruled 1793-1816) Expanded the tower into a small fort and transferred his ruling place of residence from Liwa Oasis to the fort on the island.

Sheikh Tahnoon bin Shakhbut (ruled 1818-1833) Expanded Qasr Al Hosn further as Abu Dhabi grew from a small village of palm huts to a town of more than 5,000 inhabitants.

Sheikh Khalifa bin Shakhbut (ruled 1833-1845) Repaired and fortified the fort.

Sheikh Saeed bin Tahnoon (ruled 1845-1855) Turned Qasr Al Hosn into a strong two-storied structure.

Sheikh Zayed bin Khalifa (ruled 1855-1909) Expanded Qasr Al Hosn further to reflect the emirate's increasing prominence.

Sheikh Shakhbut bin Sultan (ruled 1928-1966) Renovated and enlarged Qasr Al Hosn, adding a decorative arch and two new villas.

Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan (ruled 1966-2004) Moved the royal residence to Al Manhal palace and kept his diwan at Qasr Al Hosn.

Sources: Jayanti Maitra, www.adach.ae

Dates for the diary

To mark Bodytree’s 10th anniversary, the coming season will be filled with celebratory activities:

  • September 21 Anyone interested in becoming a certified yoga instructor can sign up for a 250-hour course in Yoga Teacher Training with Jacquelene Sadek. It begins on September 21 and will take place over the course of six weekends.
  • October 18 to 21 International yoga instructor, Yogi Nora, will be visiting Bodytree and offering classes.
  • October 26 to November 4 International pilates instructor Courtney Miller will be on hand at the studio, offering classes.
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  • December 11 Yogeswari, an advanced certified Jivamukti teacher, will be visiting the studio.
  • February 2, 2018 Bodytree will host its 4th annual yoga market.
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