HockeySpacek is a different bird

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If coach Bruce Boudreau is the most colourful character connected with the Washington Capitals than defenceman Jaroslav Spacek fits the bill for the Montreal Canadiens.

When queried on Friday as to what captain Alexander Ovechkin needs to do to relax and play his game, Boudreau replied, "Give him a massage? I don't know. Just tell him to relax and play the game."

When Spacek was asked if he was afraid that Ovechkin will be even more determined than usual in Game 2 after being held in check without a shot on goal in the series opener, the Canadiens defenceman said, "I think it's scary. I think it's scary because he'll probably come out and shoot from the red line now. You guys push him to have a shot and I will be even more scared."

The play of 36-year-old Spacek was scary, too, in Montreal's 3-2 overtime win on Thursday. Scary good. It was another example of Spacek's impressive body of work in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Some of his best play was for the Edmonton Oilers in their unlikely run to the 2006 Stanley Cup final. The following spring Spacek moved to the Buffalo Sabres and held in check fellow Czech Republic countryman Jaromir Jagr, then with the New York Rangers, to advance to the Eastern Conference final.

"I enjoy to play in the playoffs," Spacek said. "It doesn't matter who I go against. You try to push yourself and play smart hockey."

Spacek's big-game state of mind is somewhat incongruent to his fun-loving off-ice manner. The Czech loves a good time and is the life of the party.

"He's a beauty," teammate Hal Gill said. "He's a guy who it's hard not to smile when you're around him. He's a fun-loving guy and he's a hard worker. He's a battler and he enjoys whatever he's doing.

"He's just a beauty. The definition of a beauty, that's him."

When Spacek was told about Gill's remarks a few minutes later, he took the description literally, which made for another comedic scene supplied by Spacek. "All I know is that I grow my beard for a long time," he said. "I don't know if I'm a beauty anymore."

It's this easygoing manner that quickly endeared him to his Sabres teammates. The story goes that on one of his first road trips with Buffalo, he was asked to play cards. He joined in by saying "Okay let's go pigeons... Let's play cards."

He started calling his teammates pigeon. Later Sabres trainer Dave Williams ordered a stuffed pigeon from eBay and for a time presented the feathered friend, decked out with Sabres logos on its wings, to the Buffalo player of the game.

Spacek showed up on the NHL radar when he played for the 1998 gold-medal Czech Republic at the Olympics. He was playing in Sweden that season, but the Florida Panthers drafted him in the fifth round a few months after his Olympic success.

Even a dozen years later the Winter Games win still means so much to Spacek. The victory was so important to the country, which was rebuilding itself after the fall of communism, and instilled in Spacek that he belonged among the game's elite defenders.

"That basically was the start of my career for the NHL," said the 11-year NHLer, who signed a three-year, $11.5-million contract with Montreal last summer after stops in Florida, Chicago, Columbus, Edmonton and Buffalo.

"[The Olympics and playoffs are] basically the same because you want to play one game at a time. This is a long series and you don't win just because you've won the first game."

In Thursday's win, Spacek did a marvellous job marginalizing Ovechkin. Spacek also assisted on Tomas Plekanec's overtime game winner when he flipped the puck into the neutral zone to Plekanec.

Everybody expects Ovechkin to better on Saturday. Spacek believes it's important for the all five Canadiens on the ice to be aware when the Capitals captain hops over the boards.

"I want the whole five guys to challenge him, not just me," Spacek said.

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