{"id":48907,"date":"2026-05-17T11:57:06","date_gmt":"2026-05-17T11:57:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/48907\/"},"modified":"2026-05-17T11:57:06","modified_gmt":"2026-05-17T11:57:06","slug":"canadiens-fail-to-light-fuse-in-primed-bell-centre","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/48907\/","title":{"rendered":"Canadiens fail to light fuse in primed Bell Centre"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Ivan Demidov of the Montr\u00e9al Canadiens flies into the net as the Buffalo Sabres score during the second period in Game 6 at Montreal’s Bell Centre on Saturday.Minas Panagiotakis\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

It was a long winter in Montreal. The leaves only just popped this week, an explosion of green. The air is loud with patios being built. <\/p>\n

With the same organic suddenness, the city has been dappled red with Canadiens<\/a> sweaters. Riders on the metro erupt spontaneously in chants of Go Habs Go. This is a hockey town in springtime, ready to erupt. <\/p>\n

On Saturday night, its team failed to light the fuse. Coach Martin St-Louis and his boys missed their first chance to close out the Buffalo Sabres in Game 6 of the playoffs\u2019 second round and advance to the Eastern Conference Finals, the last hurdle before playing for the Cup. It was their only chance to do it at home. <\/p>\n

Possibly only the riot police were pleased with the result. <\/p>\n

Sabres beat the Canadiens 8-3 to force Game 7<\/a><\/p>\n

The Bell Centre was ready to levitate. It\u2019s famously the loudest barn in the NHL \u2013 it crackles with painful noise on a Tuesday night in December. But a weekend game in the playoffs, with a chance to clinch? It was earplug conditions. The zambonis were still lazily circling the ice, fifteen minutes before puck drop, when the first Go Habs Go chants erupted, almost angrily willing the game to start. <\/p>\n

When enforcer Arber Xhekaj scored an improbable tying goal early in the first period on a fluttering wrist shot from the point, the arena\u2019s decibel counter reached 114 \u2013 like being inside a steel mill.<\/p>\n

The euphoria couldn\u2019t last. By 8-3 in the third, with the stone wall of Jakob Dobes having crumbled, the arena DJ was working hard to drown out the boos. It was a testament to the faithfulness of the Habs\u2019 support that more of them didn\u2019t leave early to beat the traffic. <\/p>\n

Game 7 back in Buffalo will have Montreal\u2019s heart in its throat. The green has just popped; no one\u2019s ready to put the red sweaters away for the summer. This city is even more starved for victory than it is for warm weather. <\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t just any playoff series in any hockey town. The Canadiens have always been more than a club, to borrow the motto of FC Barcelona, perhaps their closest analogue in professional sports. For decades the team incarnated the aspirations and self-esteem of Quebeckers, a de facto national team for French Canada. <\/p>\n

That history, and the glory of 24 Stanley Cups, still suffuses fans\u2019 relationship with the franchise. <\/p>\n

When the traditional pre-game torchbearer turned out to be the great defenceman of the 1970s dynasty Larry Robinson \u2013 still a mountain of a man at 74, with a face of Easter Island solemnity \u2013 the building vibrated. <\/p>\n

For the first time since 1993, the last time the Habs (or any Canadian team) won the Cup, there\u2019s a real feeling in Montreal that this squad could carry the torch. A young roster of charismatic talents under contract long-term has some fans starting to whisper about another dynasty in the making. <\/p>\n

Lane Hutson\u2019s skating, Ivan Demidov\u2019s hands, Cole Caufield\u2019s release, Nick Suzuki\u2019s brain \u2013 they are a package of talents to make supporters giddy. It doesn\u2019t hurt that they collectively have the boyish mien of a peewee team. <\/p>\n

This playoff run has featured the obligatory breakout stars as well: Newfoundland\u2019s Alex Newhook already has nearly half as many goals in the playoffs as he had in the whole regular season (and sports one of this fresh-faced team\u2019s few respectable playoff beards). <\/p>\n

Rookie netminder Jakub Dobes is already being spoken of as a Conn Smythe candidate after a remarkable run of form, a folk hero status boosted by the fiery cross-checks he uses to clear his crease. A STOP sign with his name plastered on it has become a popular accessory at the Bell Centre \u2013 although Game 6 was his worst of the playoffs, and he was pulled in favour of backup Jacob Fowler after allowing his sixth goal.<\/p>\n

Cheap seats during the playoffs in Montreal have been going for a month\u2019s rent, but the bars and living rooms of the city have been a democratic outpouring of joy. After a Game 5 victory on the road put the Habs in the position to clinch, fans were already singing in the streets. Sweet Caroline was one tune of choice \u2013 a premonition of next round\u2019s opponent, the Carolina Hurricanes. <\/p>\n

It may have been premature. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Ivan Demidov of the Montr\u00e9al Canadiens flies into the net as the Buffalo…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":48908,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[164,224,238,214,212,239,17,211,230,231,227,213,210,235,171,234,143,222,249,215,216,229,225,226,219,240,50,220,244,245,247,242,246,94,243,217,142,233,113,232,241,223,236,237,228,221,218,248],"class_list":{"0":"post-48907","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-montreal","8":"tag-alberta","9":"tag-arts-news","10":"tag-bc","11":"tag-breaking-news","12":"tag-breaking-news-video","13":"tag-british-columbia","14":"tag-canada","15":"tag-canada-news","16":"tag-canada-sports","17":"tag-canada-sports-news","18":"tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","19":"tag-canadian-breaking-news","20":"tag-canadian-news","21":"tag-economy","22":"tag-education","23":"tag-environment","24":"tag-federal-government","25":"tag-foreign-news","26":"tag-globe-and-mail","27":"tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","28":"tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","29":"tag-government","30":"tag-life-news","31":"tag-lifestyle","32":"tag-local-news","33":"tag-manitoba","34":"tag-montreal","35":"tag-national-news","36":"tag-new-brunswick","37":"tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","38":"tag-northwest-territories","39":"tag-nova-scotia","40":"tag-nunavut","41":"tag-ontario","42":"tag-pei","43":"tag-photos","44":"tag-political-news","45":"tag-political-opinion","46":"tag-politics","47":"tag-politics-news","48":"tag-quebec","49":"tag-sports-news","50":"tag-technology","51":"tag-travel","52":"tag-trudeau","53":"tag-us-news","54":"tag-world-news","55":"tag-yukon"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48907","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48907"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48907\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48908"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48907"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48907"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48907"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}