Burns paces up and back behind the Canadiens' bench. There is pain on his face. He winces at each close call around his net and shrieks with whiny anguish at Laperriere when something goes wrong. He can feel the game beginning to turn.
The Canadiens attempt to clear the puck along the boards and out of their zone, but it is blocked at the blueline by Edmonton defenceman Craig Muni. Like a halfback senses a hole that has not yet opened, he winds slowly in, the Canadiens' players being blocked out of his way, until suddenly he is left with a clean run to the net. Shovelling the puck past Roy on an awkward backhand, Muni ties the game.
Sather's expression relaxes a bit. The game is back under control. Then it turns again. Finnish star Jari Kurri, who each season takes only a handful of penalties, hooks down Finnish rookie Jyrki Lumme and the Canadiens go on a power play.
The pain remains on Burns's face, but now it is the pain of anticipation. "Okay, that's it," he yells to himself as the game plays out before him. "Go back to the slot now. Go back to the slot. Good play. Good... That's it!!" he shrieks, his arms in the air. "That's the one!" Just as Burns diagrammed with his words, the puck moved back to the slot, then to the net. The goal scorer: Jyrki Lumme.
It was an unlikely goal. The puck was sent back to Lumme, he wound up to shoot. Messier, with too far to go, could only launch himself into a desperate slide toward him, skates first. The puck hit off one of Messier's skates and deflected into the top corner over Fuhr. The mystery of performance, the wonder of fate.
Two objects moving in different directions, Messier's skate, Lumme's puck, colliding at a particular moment and in such a way that three fates are changed. Fuhr had been in perfect position to stop that puck. Messier made an extraordinary effort to block it. Now both are beginning to wonder - what's going on out here? Why is this happening? Why tonight?
As for Lumme, he'll never be the same. He skates back toward the bench looking a little embarrassed, and thrilled to death. There, he is hugged by Larry Robinson, playing in his 1,152nd NHL game. For Lumme it is hard to tell whether the goal or the hug means more.
The book also has a colour photo of Jyrki being interviewed after the game.
A note on the authors, Ken Dryden's autobiography The Game and Roy MacGregor's novel The Last Season are also highly recommended reads.