The Montreal Canadiens went into Game 3 down two games, being out scored by nine goals thus far in the series with the Philadelphia Flyers.
Bell Centre made the difference last night. Packed to its 21,273 person capacity, the Bell Centre had an unmatched energy. Montreal is a city where hockey is religion. After a major win against the Pittsburgh Penguins on May 12th, the city erupted in riots.
Everyone is talking about the Canadiens’ home ice advantage. In last night’s game, the Bell Centre fans started out strong, and the Canadians followed, scoring their first goal seven minutes into the period. Three unanswered goals followed, breaking Flyers’ goalie, Michael Leighton’s six game winning steak and 170 minute shut-out. The final score was 5 – 1.
When asked about the importance of scoring the first goal, PK Subban answered, “It gets the crowd going and once you do that, [the Bell Centre] is a touch building to play in.” This sentiment was echoed by Montreal native and round two opponent, Kris Letang, of the Pittsburgh Penguins. “When you play in that building it just feels like you are in much bigger trouble than you are and that they are coming at you faster than they really are.”
With the fans on their side, the Canadiens played a hard hitting, high intensity game that saw more than your average amount of scraps for conference finals. They put relentless pressure on the Philadelphia defense. They continued to fire pucks on the net, resulting in two goals from sloppy turn-overs.
A city of devoted Canadiens fans plan to bring the same kind of intensity to Saturday’s game that we saw last night. Make sure you are there!
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