The Montreal Canadiens celebrate their sudden death overtime win over the Ottawa Senators in game 3 of first round Stanley Cup NHL playoff hockey action in Ottawa on Sunday, April 19, 2015.Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press
His production in Holland's Eredivisie during the 2013 NHL lockout may have made him the "Dutch Gretzky," his overtime goals in the Stanley Cup playoffs raise another comparison.
The Lowland Lafleur.
Like the "Démon blond" of sainted memory, Dale Weise wears his flaxen locks long enough to poke out the back of his helmet.
And like Guy Lafleur, he's a swift-skating right-handed shot with a penchant for finding the net for the Montreal Canadiens at pivotal, high-pressure times.
"I don't know if I can feel that good," Weise laughed after scoring his second goal of the game in extras to beat the Ottawa Senators and give his team at 3-0 hammerlock in the series pitting the teams. "I try to hone my inner Guy Lafleur sometimes with the long hair, but no, I've got to score a lot more OT winners to feel that good."
Fair enough, he's still a little ways off the 92 game-winning goals Lafleur scored in his frequently astonishing Hall of Fame career.
No one will mind if he basks in this one a little, though.
The Habs have an overflow of good feelings reverberating around their dressing room despite another narrow one-goal win over a game Senators squad. Defenceman P.K. Subban said the comeback win revealed something important.
"The one thing that I like about our team right now is you can clearly see that we know when to push it," he said. "We have that extra gear, and I don't think I've played on a team in Montreal that has that extra gear. You can notice it. When our forwards really want to get going, they get going. It's tough as a defenceman to defend that."
They also have playoff-hardened players like Torrey Mitchell, Devante Smith-Pelly and, of course, Weise.
Since arriving via trade from Vancouver in February of 2014, Weise has scored 13 goals in 96 regular season games – and five in 19 playoff games.
In addition, five of his 18 goals as a Hab have been game-winners – handsome numbers for a player generally considered a fourth-liner.
More relevantly, three of those have come in the playoffs: an OT winner against Tampa Bay in the first round last season, and a regulation clincher against Boston in the second (he also opened the scoring, in Boston, in game seven of that series).
Maurice "Rocket" Richard holds the league and franchise record with six overtime playoff goals.
At a comparatively young 26, Weise may be within striking distance – unless 21-year-old Alex Galchenyuk, who scored his second OT winner in his 12 playoff game in game two beats him to it.
The talkative, personable Manitoban is a well-known dressing room chatterbox, he is also evidently beloved by his teammates.
"He's probably the most-liked guy in this room. It translates on the ice, the guys are so happy for him when he has success," said teammate Max Pacioretty.
When Subban was asked to describe Weise, he simply said "He's a beauty. Leave it at that: he's a beauty. Love him."
After scoring his first playoff overtime goal in Tampa Bay, Weise gave the puck to his father, a lifelong Habs fan (as is his son).
It's a testament to his stature in the team that the puck from his second OT winner was recovered by goalie Carey Price, the team's uncontested leader.
Weise plans on holding on to it.
"(My dad) has got one, so maybe I'll keep this one for myself," said the man who scored 22 goals and 48 points in 19 games with the Destil Trappers in Tilburg, Netherlands in 2012-13.
A reporter interjected: you won't give it to your mum?
"She can share the first one," he laughed.
In case anyone was grasping with how to describe a 'beauty', there's an illustration.
Beyond the guy who scored the goal, there is the importance of the marker itself.
The Senators delivered their most spirited performance of the playoffs, led by captain Erik Karlsson who – playing against type – delivered some of the most thunderous hits of the post-season to this point.
His second period open-ice check on Nathan Beaulieu – redolent of the Eric Gryba on Lars Eller hit in 2013, minus the blood, the stretcher and the suspension – left the 22-year-old Beaulieu confined to the bench for the third period and overtime.
Montreal coach Michel Therrien said in his estimation the hit was clean – Karlsson's shoulder contract Beaulieu's head – and that his young defenceman suffered an "upper body" injury.
He didn't expand on his status for game four, and said he was allowed to remain on the bench because "we wanted to keep him out there".
Even if Beaulieu misses out on Wednesday, the Habs are in the catbird seat.
And the Senators are in a mess of trouble.
They mashed Montreal at every opportunity – Chris Neil, inserted into the lineup for Alex Chiasson, recorded nine hits – and dominated play in the first period.
They scored the period's only goal from a Montreal defensive breakdown after Subban, booed lustily from the moment he stepped out for the warm-up and every time he came within a stick length of the puck or a Senator, took out Karlsson along the boards.
Mark Stone, playing with a mangled wrist thanks to Subban's game one slash, earned his third point of the series in setting up Clarke MacArthur's swishy deke around Price.
But then the Habs, as they've done all series, roared back in the second.
And as the Senators tired in the third, they pulled even through Weise – who had an open net to shoot at after a net-front scramble.
Moments before, Therrien had shuffled his third and fourth lines, moving Brian Flynn up to the Eller unit and Weise onto Mitchell's group with Brandon Prust.
Mitchell would end up assisting on the overtime winner, which Weise scored short side on Ottawa goalie Craig Anderson - it was the only blot on a stellar performance in replacement of folk hero Andrew "Hamburglar" Hammond, who lost games one and two. Anderson made 47 saves on 49 shots but once again the Sens had trouble bottling up the Montreal fourth line.
When Weise was asked if the offensive outburst was the product of his skill or Therrien's coaching nous, he quipped "We'll say the genius of Therrien. And make sure you tell him that, too. We kind of got a little bit stale there, our top two lines were producing but I don't think our third and fourth produced enough in the first half of the game. We shook things up and it worked."
The signs for the Senators are, of course, ominous. Only three teams have ever clawed back an 0-3 deficit, although it has happened twice since 2010.
They have two days to recover their composure and gear up for an elimination game on their home ice.
Anderson, despite allowing a soft goal on the winner, showed he can still summon the form that gave Montreal fits in the 2013 series, won in five games by Ottawa.
And the Habs know better than to think they're home and dry.
"This is not a team that's quit. They're a team that seems to dig down deep and be resilient, this is the second year in a row that we've played a team that even when you think they're down and out you have to continue to play hard.," said Subban. "You look at Boston, their team last year, you blink and they're back in the game. These guys are the same way."