Bell Centre during playoffs takes regular season 'into another stratosphere'

MONTREAL -- Goosebumps.

Derek Stepan said he felt them when he was talking about standing on the blue line at Bell Centre, a visiting player for the New York Rangers, and taking in "The Star-Spangled Banner" and "O Canada" before Games 1 and 2 of the 2014 Eastern Conference Final.

"I love New York, I'm an MSG guy for life, but I will say this: I remember Games 1 and 2 in Montreal, that building, those anthems, I can remember it perfectly, Sara Diamond and Ginette Reno," Stepan said, instantly recalling the singers who performed. "That building, you couldn't hear anything. I'll never forget it because it was so loud."

Chills.

Brian Gionta said he felt them when he talked about the crowd, the energy, the passion that consumed him every time he skated onto the ice in the Montreal Canadiens' famous CH sweater for a home playoff game. Gionta did it 20 times from 2010-14, 12 times with a 'C' on his sweater as captain from 2011-14.

"It's hard to explain because the Bell Centre even in the regular season is top of the League," Gionta said, "so it's crazy to think it can get to a whole other level, but the whole spectacle of playoffs in Montreal inside and outside the Bell Centre is complete insanity in a good way. For me, there was no better place to play a playoff game. It takes the regular season, which you think can't get any better, into another stratosphere."

Stanley Cup Playoff hockey in front of a full house at Bell Centre is back, returning for Game 3 of the Eastern Conference First Round between the Canadiens and Washington Capitals on Friday (7 p.m. ET; CBC, TVAS, SN, TNT, truTV, MNMT, MAX) for the first time since April 20, 2017, when Mika Zibanejad scored in overtime to lift the Rangers to a 3-2 win in Game 5 of their first-round series against Montreal.

"Oh, it's electric," former Canadiens defenseman Shea Weber said. "Not just the building, the city. You get goosebumps from the sound, the chants. You're in the room and you can hear the fans 30 minutes before the game just chanting. It really is an electric atmosphere."

The Canadiens didn't make the playoffs in 2018 or 2019. They played in the 2020 postseason, but that was in Toronto as part of the NHL's Return to Play during the COVID-19 pandemic. They reached the Stanley Cup Final in 2021, but pandemic restrictions forced them to cap the tickets sold at 3,500 for home games.

This is the Canadiens' first time back in the playoffs since then. There should be more than 21,000 in the building Friday to see if they can cut into Washington's 2-0 lead in the best-of-7 series.

"I feel like it's kind of what they need," Weber said of the Canadiens. "They're down 2-0 and they're coming back home and they're going to get a lift. That crowd is going to lift them. That energy, they're going to come out flying in that first period. The life in that building is going to bring out the best and adrenaline in everyone. It's going to give them that lift they need being down 2-0."

The only Canadiens player who has experienced a home playoff game in a sold-out Bell Centre is forward Brendan Gallagher.

"Part of their journey as a team is to experience this," Gionta said. "We went through it in 2010. A lot of us had never been in that scenario. We had been in big games, and we had guys who had won Cups, but it was that environment at the Bell Centre at that time of the year and the only way you're going to get it is if you go out and experience it. Minus Gallagher, some of the guys have had long playoff runs, but they haven't had this type of home-ice advantage."

Lars Eller will be on the other side of it for the first time. Eller, a forward for the Capitals, played for the Canadiens from 2010-16, experiencing 18 home playoff games at Bell Centre.

"I know what it's going to be like because I've tried it," Eller said. "It's, I think, one of the best arenas, maybe the best, to experience as a player."

Henrik Lundqvist won four of his six NHL playoff starts at Bell Centre, including Games 1 and 2 for the Rangers in the 2014 conference final, allowing three goals on 63 shots. Lundqvist said he doesn't specifically remember one game or moment, but the energy he felt in the city, from walking out of the hotel to taking the bus to the arena to getting onto the ice, is something he will never forget.

"It was incredible," Lundqvist said. "So loud. It's all about hockey. It's all about what's going to happen in that game. It's hard to escape it, but as a player you love that. I loved it."

You love it even more when as a visiting player you can do something to turn down the noise like Lundqvist and the Rangers did several times, including Games 1 and 2 of the 2014 conference final.

"We won both of those games, so you go from all this built-up energy that it's so loud to when we scored the goals, we scored you could hear a mouse fart," Stepan said. "That's how quiet it got."

Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Ryan McDonagh has experienced both a roaring Bell Centre in the playoffs and the building being relatively tame too. He played for the Rangers against the Canadiens in the 2014 and 2017 playoffs. He was on the other side playing for the Lightning in the 2021 Stanley Cup Final, when only a smattering of fans were allowed in.

The difference? Striking.

"It's quite an atmosphere," McDonagh said. "It's a fan base that just follows the game so closely. They don't miss anything. Any little scrum, any play, they can get on the opposition, they can rally their team. They have a great feel for where the game is at, and it can really be an advantage for the home team there. It's a one-of-a-kind arena."

Gionta said the crowd is like that because of the fan base's knowledge of the game and passion for the Canadiens. He said it's unlike anywhere else in the NHL, which is going to be another part of the experience Friday.

"You're amped up for the game, but you're feeding off the energy of the city," Gionta said. "It starts outside, and it just gets sucked right into the Bell Centre and projected out onto you. Everyone is waiting on every play. Whether it's a breakout pass or a dump in shot from the red line, everything is more exciting when the fans at the Bell Centre are like that, and in the playoffs that's how they are it doesn't matter what happens."

Stepan echoed Gionta, saying any Canadiens player other than Gallagher who thinks they know what it's going to be like should probably raise their level of expectations.

"They need to experience it," he said. "These guys have played all year long and it'll be a completely different building than the one they played in during the regular season. It's going to go another level up. The fans are great all year long, but people are going to take off work and they're going to do stuff to be there all day. They've been waiting for this."

NHL.com senior writers Tom Gulitti and Amalie Benjamin contributed to this report