Perry embracing role of villain for Lightning entering Game 3 at Canadiens

MONTREAL -- Want to make Corey Perry smile?

Boo him. 

Loudly. Lustily. With passion. Like you mean it.

Just like the capacity crowd of 21,105 at raucous Bell Centre will be doing, in full collective throats, for Game 3 of the Eastern Conference First Round between Perry’s Tampa Bay Lightning and the host Montreal Canadiens on Friday (7 p.m. ET; CBC, TVAS, SN, TNT, truTV, HBO MAX, The Spot).  

He can’t wait. 

In fact, standing in the visitors dressing room after Lightning practice Thursday, just the thought of the cold, harsh reception he’ll receive had him breaking into his trademark mischievous smirk.

“Obviously, when that happens, you’re doing something right,” the 40-year-old forward said. “If the fans see you have the puck and start booing, you’re doing something right. So, you know, you embrace it, you have fun with it, and it gives you a little fuel.”

Truth be told, it drives him.

“You know, it’s fun when you go into another building and they all know who you are,” Perry said. “And it’s not just me. There’s a lot of guys in this room that I’m sure have been booed many times. It just adds fuel for you. And it’s exciting.”

Perry has a point in that he’ll have company in being despised. In this version of the Lightning, he’s not alone in being loathed by opposing supporters. As such, there will be plenty of jeers to go around.

After the Lightning won Game 2 by a 3-2 score on J.J. Moser’s overtime winner Tuesday to even the series at 1-1, coach Jon Cooper told reporters that “somebody’s got to be the villain, I guess. We’re OK with it.” He was referring, in part, to Tampa Bay’s rambunctious, in-your-face style, one that resulted in the Lightning leading the NHL in penalties (425) during the regular season.

For their part, the Lightning players, to use Perry’s word, “embrace” their image as bad boys. And, of course, it starts with Perry, who was seen yelling at a number of Canadiens players while in the penalty box after taking a double minor for roughing in the first period of Game 2.

People here remember that. They also recall the game at Bell Centre between these two teams on April 9, a 2-1 Canadiens win in which Perry, in a game that featured 126 penalty minutes, goaded Montreal star defenseman Lane Hutson, shoving him and telling him to get off the ice.

In an ironic twist, Perry, one of the most effective superpests the modern game has ever seen, was a favorite here during his one season with the Canadiens in 2020-21, a campaign shortened by COVID-19. Montreal went to the Stanley Cup Final that season before losing to his current team.

That was then. This is now. Cue the jeers.

“It’s hockey,” Perry said. “I mean, you can be friends with guys off the ice. But man, as soon as that puck drops, it’s game on. We’re playing for a Stanley Cup. You’re in the playoffs. You can talk and shoot the (crap) later, and have fun with it later on, and laugh about it.

“But it’s playoff time. You do anything to help your team win.”

Scott Sabourin, Brandon Hagel and Nikita Kucherov, who, like Perry, have earned the wrath of Montreal fans honestly, couldn’t agree more. If Perry is the unofficial leader of Tampa Bay’s bad boys, these three aren’t far behind.

Take Sabourin, who was back practicing on the fourth line Thursday. The Lightning enforcer’s offer to drop the gloves with Josh Anderson was rejected early in Game 2; then he was penalized late in the third period for knocking down the Canadiens forward from behind.

You can bet Canadiens supporters haven’t forgotten. Or, for that matter, forgiven. And he knows it.

“Do boos fuel me? Absolutely,” said Sabourin, who had five points (one goal, four assists) and 89 penalty minutes in 26 games during the regular season. “The louder the better. It means I’m doing my job. I’m getting under opponents’ skins. 

“So hopefully they’re nice and quiet tomorrow.”

That won’t happen. At least not at the start. Not with Hagel and Kucherov playing for the enemy.

Hagel’s fingerprints have been all over this series through the first two games, with four points (three goals, one assist), nine penalty minutes and a bout with Juraj Slafkovsky in Game 2 in which he dropped the Montreal forward with an impressive right. He also mocked the Canadiens by making a weeping gesture at a group of them who were in the penalty box in that same game.

Hagel’s role as an enemy Friday is a far cry from Feb. 15, 2025, when, in this same building as a member of Team Canada, the forward dropped the gloves with Team USA’s Matthew Tkachuk during the opening face-off of a 4 Nations Face-Off game. The cheers for him that night from the pro-Canada crowd were spine-tingling. The reception for him Friday will be anything but, a situation he understands and welcomes.

Last, but certainly not least, is the wrath the locals here still harbor for Kucherov.

Back in 2021, on the night the Lightning clinched the Stanley Cup by disposing of the Canadiens in Game 5 of the best-of-7 Cup Final, the star forward, sitting shirtless at the podium during his postgame press conference, mocked Montreal supporters for their celebrations after Game 4, the Canadiens’ only win in the series. Montreal police said they arrested four people and issued 36 tickets following the game.

“The fans in Montreal acted like they won the Stanley Cup last game,” Kucherov said at the time. “Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me? Their Final was last round.”

This much is certain: Those same fans won’t be kidding when they spew their verbal venom his way, loudly and consistently, on Friday. 

Because his words from almost five years earlier still bitterly resonate here.

Cooper said Kucherov, whose third-period goal in Game 2 of this series tied the game 2-2 and forced overtime, can take the loathing.

“He’s extremely determined and driven,” Cooper said. “And, you know, I’ve used the term villain. He doesn’t care. He just goes out and does his job. He wants to do whatever it takes to help us win and help our team have success.

“I think there’s a little bit in there, too, when people are against him. People probably want to see him fail. They think that might be a bit of a motivating factor for him. But it doesn’t rattle him. And that’s probably why he’s had the success he’s had. Because he doesn’t wilt into that.”

When the puck is dropped Friday, Cooper’s so-called villains will be dressed in white, not the customary black those in that role used to wear in the old Western movies. 

No matter.

Just listen to the reaction of the fans, and you’ll know quite quickly who the perceived scoundrels are in the minds of the Montreal faithful.

It’ll be enough to make Perry grin. At least in the beginning, anyway.