A deep bow, a kiss, a mighty heart worn on the sleeve.
For Mats Sundin, it could not have been scripted any better - from a standing ovation at one end of the game to a shootout winner at the other.
And still he had the graciousness not to revel in it, sending the Toronto Maple Leafs to defeat as a Vancouver Canuck yet restrained in celebration: No pumping of the arms, no stick held high, only the smile on his face indicating poignant satisfaction.
"That's the stuff you dream of," he admitted afterward. "Whether you're 38 years old or 7."
On his keenly anticipated return to the Air Canada Centre, Sundin was fittingly the first star of the game. He came out, took those final seconds in the spotlight, bent from the waist in tender mutual recognition and sent out smooches, hand to his lips.
"The ovation from the fans was overwhelming. I'll remember this for the rest of my life.
"There were tears coming."
Earlier in the day, when Sundin came clomping out of the visitors' dressing room for the morning skate, he'd wheeled right, out of long habit.
Wrong way.
Sheepishly, the ex-Leaf captain muttered: "Which way am I going?"
The confusion was only fleeting, a momentary brain cramp.
He is a Canuck, as Toronto finally saw for itself last night.
And bless that crowd for not holding it against him. For, rather, giving Sundin one of the sweetest tributes in the history of the franchise - a two-minute standing O that did, indeed, bring tears to the big Swede's eyes.
Even with Vancouver ultimately 3-2 shootout victors - on Sundin's backhand, no less, too perfect - there was nothing to begrudge the returning star, for 13 years property of the Leafs.
The Sundin Salute began during a commercial break, about six minutes into the game, Sundin on the bench and a short Thanks Mats! video compilation unfolding on the Jumbotron. The audience took it from there, rising as one to its feet, the roar reaching crescendo throttle, Sundin lifting his glove in acknowledgment.
Grasping the moment's significance, Canucks coach Alain Vigneault sent Sundin over the boards, though it was not his shift, and it was then that No. 13 - in blue and white and green - visibly started to crumple, his jaw quivering.
As he moved in to take the faceoff deep in the Toronto zone, Leaf centre Matt Stajan tactfully moved back from the dot, everybody faded away, linesman included, Canucks and Leafs tapping their sticks, and for a stirring minute it was Sundin alone, head bowed and eyes dripping.
"It was his moment," said Stajan. "I wanted to sit back and let him take it all in."
No one will ever know Sundin's relief or how deeply touching was this outpouring of respect and affection. Only hours earlier, he'd told reporters it didn't matter, the reception of Toronto fans, whether there be cheering or jeering. But it did. It most plainly did.
"This game has been in the back of my mind for a long time. I knew, coming back, there would be a lot of emotions."
Despite urging in some quarters - particularly from a handful of self-absorbed media cranks - there was no fan backlash, as had been feared. An assembly of hockey patrons that has routinely booed the best players in the game - from Bobby Orr to Wayne Gretzky - for the singular crime of not being a Leaf, showed honour on this evening, a smattering of huzzahs drowned out by that other stuff, and even old coots in the pressbox were sniffling.
From his next shift onwards, whenever Sundin touched the puck, he got the raspberry - gratuitous hooting mostly, not personal really, any more than that sharp shove in the back from Jason Blake along the boards.
Overall, on the 10th anniversary of the ACC, on Hockey Day in Canada, no less, it was a warm embrace for the man who wore a "C" on his chest for 11 seasons here, if only fitfully afforded the regard he was due across that breadth of service. He wasn't Wendel, he wasn't Dougie, he wasn't Darryl - none of whom led Toronto to a Stanley Cup final either, you may recall.
He was and is Mats Sundin, endlessly courteous - perhaps too mush-mouthed for his own good - and Scandinavian reserved, by temperament and professional training, dignified rather than indignant when attacked, withholding his emotional core and never quite forgiven for that.
Still, the possessor of multiple franchise records: most points (987), most goals (420), most game-winning goals (94). And gobs of them were highlight-reel pretty - wrist shot from the top of the circle, off the rush, on the backhand, best in hockey and a dying art.
A reporter asked of Sundin, at the end of the night, if he'd finally shown that he was a man of emotion.
"Always been."
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