Canadiens ‘ready’ for more Stanley Cup Playoff hockey in Montreal

MONTREAL -- Hockey, they say in these parts, is a religion.

That claim isn’t just Montreal Canadiens fans talking the talk. To their credit, they walk the walk.

Right into their own personal house of worship.

For the first two games of the Eastern Conference First Round, fans of the Canadiens filled the pews at Cathedrale Saint-Jean-l'Evangeliste in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, about 30 miles southeast of Bell Centre, to watch their favorite team at a viewing party. Even the candles inside were bleu-blanc-rouge (the Habs’ red, white and blue).

With the best-of-7 series tied 1-1 after the Tampa Bay Lightning’s 3-2 overtime victory at Benchmark International Arena in Tampa on Tuesday, the stage shifts to Montreal for Game 3 on Friday (7 p.m. ET; CBC, TVAS, SN, TNT, truTV, HBO MAX, The Spot) in arguably the most raucous arena in the NHL.

The electricity throughout the city, the region, the province of Quebec, is palpable, if not off the charts.

There are Canadiens flags attached to the back of fire engines around town. A number of local Kentucky Fried Chicken outlets are sporting original seats from the fabled Montreal Forum, the team’s home until 1996, so hungry patrons can sit and munch their lunch while experiencing a piece of hockey history. When riders on the Metro, Montreal’s subway, arrive at two stations near Bell Centre, the announcements on the speakers are done by Canadiens players Lane Hutson, Juraj Slafkovsky, Alexandre Texier and Jakub Dobes.

On Wednesday, workers were busy setting up the infrastructure for fan zones outside the arena. Everywhere you looked, scaffolding was being installed, things were being hammered, all in preparation for what stands to be one huge postseason party.

How will this young Canadiens team handle all the hype and hoopla that continues to swell with each passing hour the clock ticks toward opening face-off?

“I mean, they’ll be ready,” coach Martin St. Louis said Wednesday. “They know they’ll have the support from the fans. They’ll be ready.”

If so, they’ll have the chance to show that the moment isn’t too big for them.

Keep in mind that postseason success hasn’t been a recent regularity for this franchise, despite the fact it has won more Stanley Cup championships (24) than any team in League history. In fact, the last playoff series the Canadiens won prior to the COVID-19 pandemic was in 2015, when they defeated the Ottawa Senators in the first round in six games.

In 2020, they defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-1 in the best-of-5 Stanley Cup Qualifiers that was played in the bubble in Toronto because of the concerns about the coronavirus.

In 2021, they went all the way to the Stanley Cup Final before losing to the Lightning in five games. In the process, ongoing COVID concerns meant only 3,500 tickets for home games in Montreal were permitted after health officials denied the request to increase it to 10,500 (50 percent capacity) before Game 3.

Five years later, these Canadiens are an entirely different team. Gone are the Shea Webers, the Carey Prices, the Corey Perrys, replaced by the likes of 26-year-old captain Nick Suzuki, 25-year-old wing Cole Caufield, Slafkovsky, a 22-year-old power forward, and Hutson, a 22-year-old defenseman who won the Calder Trophy last season as the NHL’s top rookie.

All four got their first taste of NHL postseason hockey one year ago when the Canadiens were eliminated by the Washington Capitals in five games in the best-of-7 first round. During individual sit-downs with NHL.com last month, Suzuki, Hutson and Caufield said the experience of feeling the energy of this hockey-mad city at playoff time was like nothing else and only accelerated their passion and desire to go through it again.

They’ll get their wish Friday. Only this time, they won’t settle for just being part of the tournament; this time, they won’t be satisfied without a deep playoff run.

All the while, they are set to embrace what awaits them here at home.

“Well, I mean, we played those two playoff games here, and it was absolutely insane,” Hutson said. “And winning a playoff game here, it was just crazy. So, we want to be in a position to do that and do it a lot.”

Caufield couldn’t agree more.

“Even last year, we only got two games here, and we were just dying for another one,” Caufield said. “And the fans were, too, so we want to give them a chance to come back for the playoffs again and give them more opportunities for them to cheer us on.”

They’ve done that. Now they must take advantage.

Truth be told, Montreal could be up 2-0 in this series against Tampa Bay after each of the first two required overtime. For the most part, they’ve shown maturity and discipline against a Lightning team that led the NHL in penalties this season (425) and constantly has attempted to goad the Canadiens into losing their composure.

But blips of Montreal’s relative postseason inexperience were evident in Game 2, including Slafkovsky dropping the gloves with forward Brandon Hagel in the second period. The Lightning outshot the Canadiens 9-0 in overtime, the final effort being defenseman J.J. Moser’s goal at 12:48.

The deafening vibe at Bell Centre for Game 3 definitely will cause Montreal to come out with more jump, more zip, more intensity. Hagel, Perry and forward Nikita Kucherov definitely will be enemies of the capacity throng and no doubt will hear about it.

But the question remains, can the Canadiens control their emotions in a building that will be percolating with them?

For Suzuki, feeding off the crowd is something they can use as part of a potential home-ice advantage unlike any other.

“I think guys learn to appreciate the passion the city has for this hockey team,” he said last month. “And I think that you kind of have to live it and experience it on a day-to-day basis to truly appreciate it. And I think players around the League are beginning to recognize that Montreal is back, and that we all love playing here. So, it’s amazing.”

Those sentiments were echoed by Montreal Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada during a press conference last week.

“When we do the series, it’s good for business. It’s good for just having people happy,” Martinez Ferrada said.

In Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Thomas Hodgson understands the feel-good effect the sport -- and specifically the Canadiens -- can have. He’s one of two hosts of the playoff watch parties held at Cathedrale Saint-Jean-l’Evangeliste.

“It’s not a secret that hockey is kind of a cultural phenomenon in Quebec,” Hodgson told CityNews Montreal on Tuesday.

One that will be on full display come Friday.