{"id":626282,"date":"2026-04-24T20:33:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T20:33:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/626282\/"},"modified":"2026-04-24T20:33:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T20:33:10","slug":"montreal-is-buzzing-habs-say-theyre-ready-for-electric-game-3-atmosphere","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/626282\/","title":{"rendered":"Montreal is buzzing. Habs say they’re ready for electric Game 3 atmosphere"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Estimated 4 minutes<\/p>\n

The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.<\/p>\n

Martin St. Louis didn’t need to step inside the Bell Centre to gauge what kind of atmosphere was coming.<\/p>\n

The Montreal Canadiens coach could feel the buzz during his regular game-day routine \u2014 thanks to an unusual sight.<\/p>\n

“I walk in this morning, get a coffee, and there’s, I don’t know, 20-30 porta-potties outside,” St. Louis said. “I mean, this place is ready to erupt.”<\/p>\n

The Canadiens host the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 3 of their heated first-round NHL playoff matchup Friday night, with the series tied 1-1 after two games in Florida.<\/p>\n

Beyond the 21,000 fans inside the Bell Centre, thousands more will pack the streets at watch parties outside the building, filling the area between the Bonaventure and Lucien-L’Allier Metro stations, where voice recordings from four Canadiens players are currently announcing the next stops in French.<\/p>\n

“It’s just the magnitude of this market,” St. Louis said. “Being front and centre, being part of it, it’s not something I take for granted, [I’m] trying to earn that every day. But there’s nothing like being behind the bench of the Montreal Canadiens. And you magnify that with the playoffs, it’s pretty cool.”<\/p>\n

Canadiens winger Cole Caufield said downtown Montreal road closures in anticipation of the massive party slowed his drive to morning skate, but he’s not complaining.<\/p>\n

\"TwoCanadiens forward Juraj Slafkovsky is seen battling for position with Lightning forward Anthony Cirelli during Game 2. (Chris O’Meara\/The Associated Press)<\/p>\n

“The city, the fans, the building. There’s really no words,” he said. “Just coming here this morning, seeing all the towels out there, it’s pretty cool. I think everybody’s pretty fired up.”<\/p>\n

The visitors, meanwhile, know exactly what’s waiting for them.<\/p>\n

Lightning coach Jon Cooper experienced the ear-splitting decibels with the fans on his side while standing behind Canada’s bench at last year’s 4 Nations Face-Off. He said he’ll never forget the rocking ovation for Mario Lemieux in the tournament opener against Sweden, or the frenzy during three fights in nine seconds against the United States.<\/p>\n

This time, Cooper is bracing for a hostile reception, one he’s confident his veteran group can handle. The Lightning already got a taste on April 9, when Caufield scored his 50th goal of the regular season in a scintillating 2-1 win for the Canadiens.<\/p>\n

“We’ve played in some pretty hostile environments this year, I’m not worried about any of that,” he said. “I’m a big believer in embracing the environment. The dimensions of the rink don’t change, the amount of players on each team don’t change, and the fans, that’s part of the environment. I don’t know, embrace it.”<\/p>\n

Hockey as a religion<\/p>\n

It’s often said that the Canadiens in Montreal \u2014 and the province of Quebec \u2014 are a religion. The Cathedrale Saint-Jean-l’Evangeliste in nearby Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que., is backing up that reputation, hosting watch parties with hundreds of fans lining the church pews.<\/p>\n

“It literally is [a religion],” Caufield said. “That’s a story that makes it make sense. I mean just everybody’s so committed and passionate. No matter what kind of lifestyle you live, I think everybody’s on the same page with their hockey team.”<\/p>\n

WATCH | Habs fans pack into cathedral for watch party:\"\"<\/p>\n

Hockey worship? Habs fans pack into cathedral to watch NHL playoffs<\/p>\n

Fans are cheering on the Montreal Canadiens from the pews of the Cath\u00e9drale Saint-Jean-l\u2019\u00c9vang\u00e9liste, 40 minutes outside Montreal. The church in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que., is a heritage site that hosts mass as well as cultural and artistic events.Caufield’s letter to fans<\/p>\n

Caufield penned a letter to the Habs faithful in a Players’ Tribune article released Thursday, thanking the fans in advance for “going absolutely ballistic” Friday.<\/p>\n

The Canadiens forward also dove into his backstory of long road trips with his dad, Paul, as a youth player in Wisconsin.<\/p>\n

“I did it last week on the phone, so I thought that was pretty cool to share those stories and memories,” Caufield said. “It’s kind of them reaching out and wanting to talk about not only [scoring 50 goals], but my story of how I got to where I am.” <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 4 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":626283,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194292],"tags":[49,48,2338],"class_list":["post-626282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-montreal","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-montreal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/626282","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=626282"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/626282\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/626283"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=626282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=626282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=626282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}