Hagel eager to accept role of 'bad guy' for Lightning in Game 3 at Montreal

TAMPA -- The last time Brandon Hagel played a game with the magnitude of the Stanley Cup Playoffs at Bell Centre in Montreal, he instantly became a national hero in Canada.

It was Feb. 15, 2025, and the forward was wearing the red and white colors of his country, not the blue and white of the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Canada was playing the United States in the 4 Nations Face-Off, the pride of each country on the line and the crowd in Montreal at a fever pitch even before the puck dropped on that Saturday night.

When it finally did, Hagel dropped his gloves and slugged it out with Matthew Tkachuk of the United States, an entire country cheering his every punch.

It cemented him as a fan favorite throughout Canada.

That may not be the case Friday, especially in Montreal, when Hagel and the Lightning return to Bell Centre for Game 3 of the Eastern Conference First Round against the Montreal Canadiens (7 p.m. ET; CBC, TVAS, SN, TNT, truTV, HBO MAX, The Spot). The best-of-7 series is tied 1-1.

"I think this one's not going to be the same going over there, but I'm excited," Hagel said. "What a building to play in."

Hagel has tormented the Canadiens through the first two games of this series. He scored two goals in Game 1, opened the scoring and had an assist in Game 2, and was the clear winner in a fight with Montreal forward Juraj Slafkovsky.

This is what Lightning coach Jon Cooper, Canada's coach at 4 Nations, speaking before Game 2, said about Hagel returning to Montreal:

"It's tough that we're going to go back to Bell Centre here next week, and he's going to be the bad guy when a year ago he was beloved in that arena," he said. "Yeah, that'll be tough."

Hagel likely wouldn't want it any other way. He's the heart and soul of the Lightning, getting his teammates and fans fired up after a scrum in Game 2 and exhorting them to get going by waving his arm up and down on his way to the penalty box.

"The kid does everything," teammate Corey Perry said. "He's an emotional leader of our club."

If Hagel on Friday continues to do what he's done for the Lightning this season, he could become Public Enemy No. 1 in Montreal pretty quick if he's not there already. The 27-year-old from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, scored an NHL career-high 36 goals and finished with 74 points in 71 games. He has three goals and one assist through the first two games of the first round.

On a team with gifted offensive forces in forwards Nikita Kucherov and Jake Guentzel, and gritty, talented forwards in Brayden Point and Anthony Cirelli, Hagel seems to have the total package -- the grit, the scoring, the leadership qualities.

Take Game 1, when he scored twice and had one hit and three shots on goal. He played a team-high 25:27, including 5:14 on the power play and 4:36 short-handed.

He had seven penalty minutes and one hit in Game 2. He played 23:52, including 3:26 on the power play and 3:59 short-handed.

"He does everything for us," Kucherov said. "He kills penalties. He's on the power play. He's a hell of a player. We are lucky to have him."

He can do it all and will do it, case in point, the fight at the 4 Nations, when he was not only defending his team, but a whole country.

"I think that kind of defined what he is," Cooper said. "And it's not that he's a fighter, but he is going to do anything to win regardless of the task.

"And I think you watch that in the way he plays and how he played for us (in Game 1), and every respect he conducts himself. He is one of the major pulses of our team. He is vocal. He's got everything you want in a player and a skill set to prove it."

Hagel began his NHL career with the Chicago Blackhawks and had 61 points (30 goals, 31 assists) over 108 games in three seasons. He was traded to Tampa Bay by Chicago on March 18, 2022, with a fourth-round pick in the 2022 NHL Draft and a fourth-round pick in the 2024 NHL Draft for Boris Katchouk, Taylor Raddysh and two conditional first-round picks. He played 22 regular-season games following the trade and helped the Lightning to the Stanley Cup Final for a third straight year, where they lost in six games to the Colorado Avalanche.

He had 64 points (30 goals, 34 assists) in 81 games in 2022-23 and 75 points (26 goals, 49 assists) in 82 games in 2023-24.

After the Lightning lost the 2024 first round in five games to the Florida Panthers, Hagel played for Canada at the IIHF World Championship in Czechia. He had seven points (three goals, four assists) in 10 games.

It was a turning point in his career, Cooper said.

"Brandon Hagel went to the World Championships the summer before the 4 Nations," Cooper said, "and he reason he came on (Team Canada's) radar is because he did go to World Championships and he excelled while he was over there."

That time at Worlds help Hagel land a spot on Canada's roster for the 4 Nations and the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, making him a favorite throughout the country.

That will change Friday, at least in Montreal.

He can't wait.

"What I building to play in," Hagel said after Game 2. "I got the opportunity to play in that building. It doesn't ever matter that we were on the away side. You have to embrace the opportunity like that.

"As a player you dream of playing in buildings like that and playing in atmospheres like that."