Forward Gabriel Bourque made his NHL debut tonight in Nashville, and from the sounds of it, he turned a few heads. The 21-year old Rimouski, Quebec native was recalled yesterday by the Admirals parent club Nashville Predators, and made his NHL debut tonight in the Predators 2-1 shootout win against the Minnesota Wild.
Nashville Predators Examiner Jim Diamond was kind enough to fill me in on Bourques big debut. According to Diamond, Bourque played just 8:05 of the game, but was noticeable on most of his shifts. He also cited that Bourque showed a lot of speed, which is something he displayed night after night here in Milwaukee.
Diamond also mentioned that Bourque was also part of a nice scoring chance for the Predators:
"With just over three minutes remaining in the second, he carried the puck into the Minnesota zone and threw a nice centering pass to Matt Halischuk who was not able to put it in, but a nice play by Bourque anyway."
He also got some great feedback on Bourque from Predators head coach Barry Trotz after the game, and from the sounds of it, he regrets not playing Bourque more:
"That's bad coaching by me. I thought he played really well. I thought he was really hard on the puck. I can guarantee you this, that if he plays like that, which I expect him to, if he does that night in and night out, I know he is going to play a lot more."
Diamond also got a chance to speak with the recently promoted Bourque. Bourque was confident with his play, and pleased with his performance:
"I've been waiting for this first game. I think I played well. I didn't make mistakes. I just tried to do my job. I am pretty happy about my game."
The Predators play their last game of 2011 Friday night at St. Louis. By the feedback I'm getting on Bourque, he'll be seeing a lot more than 8:05 of ice time.
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