Andrei Markov has a city of fans behind him in his rehabilitation from a gruesome foot injury suffered late in the first game of this National Hockey League season.

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Soviet Union's national ice hockey team goalkeeper Vladislav Tretiak in a historic shot from January 1972 in Moscow. Tretiak and his teammates won the gold medal at the Winter Olympics in February in Sapporo (Japan) and repeated four years later in Innsbruck (Austria).

Photograph by : AFP/Getty Images)

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On Saturday, the all-star Canadiens defenceman learned there's an entire nation pulling for him, too.

Russian hockey legend Vladislav Tretiak broke bread with Markov before the Canadiens-Washington Capitals game, a meal that satisfied the appetites and curiosities of both men.

Tretiak was in Montreal on a scouting mission, loudly embraced as usual by Canadiens fans when the first-period scoreboard showed him in the crowd. The 57-year-old Hall of Famer is president of the Russian Ice Hockey Federation and general manager of his country's Vancouver 2010 Olympic hockey team.

Upstairs, at press-gallery level, was Steve Yzerman, Team Canada's GM who similarly was bird-dogging the game.

Montreal loved/hated Tretiak in 1972 during the landmark Summit Series, impressed by his skill while wishing he'd show less of it. We pretty much loathed him three years later during the historic 1975 New Year's Eve tie between his Red Army club and the Canadiens.

And the Habs thought enough of him in 1983 to draft him into the NHL (seventh round, 138th overall), though the Soviet government blocked the move he wanted to make to North America.

Last week, quizzed about his intention to represent his country in Vancouver in February, Markov coyly replied, "That's my secret, you know."

On Saturday, Tretiak made no secret of the fact that Russia would welcome Markov to their team with a jersey-red carpet.

"My coaches would like to look for him to play soon, maybe in three, four weeks," Tretiak said after the game, chatting in the corridor outside the Capitals dressing room. "He feels good, and he's a very important, very good player for us. ... He's a good, smart defenceman. Our team likes him very much."

Tretiak said the two men talked over Saturday dinner about hockey generally and Markov's health specifically, a clear message served during the meal - that Markov, a veteran of Russia's 2006 Turin Olympic squad, would be a vital part of his country's Vancouver roster should he be good to go.

If Markov, recovering from ankle surgery, thought he'd slipped down Russia's depth chart during his rehab, he has no such fear today.

"(Markov's) No. 1 coach now is his doctor," Tretiak said. "He knows our coaches like him. Today was very important for him. It was important for me to support him. I wanted to show him I believe in him."

Tretiak is well known across this land, our players having faced him in 43 international games through the 1970s and '80s. He remains hugely popular and feels "very welcome" in Montreal, where fans stop him for autographs in his hotel and on the streets.

Likewise greeted, times 10, is Washington's Alex Ovechkin, who on Saturday dazzled Tretiak and everyone else in the Bell Centre. Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau said Ovechkin snapped to attention when the Russian goaltending legend appeared on the scoreboard, the superstar later admitting "it was pretty cool when I saw him in the stands."