The Canadiens celebrate their 6-2 Game 3 win over the Buffalo Sabres, cheered on by an ecstatic home crowd.
Minas Panagiotakis / Getty Images
MONTREAL — The “Olé, Olé, Olé, Olé, Olé …” chant echoed through the Bell Centre all evening long. It would be no surprise if the melody haunted the dreams of the Buffalo Sabres players come Monday morning.
“It’s a fun arena to compete in, with an obviously passionate fan base—everyone knows that, and it might be the loudest venue I’ve ever played in,” Sabres defenseman Bowen Byram said following his team’s 6-2 loss to the Montreal Canadiens in Game 3. “It’s a blast, but you have to channel that energy to fuel yourself.”
From the first moment to the last, the Bell Centre delivered yet another unforgettable spring night.
Before the game, former Canadiens captain and Stanley Cup champion Kirk Muller carried the torch to ignite the atmosphere.
“I felt like a gladiator stepping into the coliseum,” Muller, a key figure on the 1993 title-winning team, shared via text message.
Then the “Olé” chants once again postponed the national anthems—a unique sight across the NHL this postseason. The crowd joined in enthusiastically, singing “O Canada” in both official languages.
The energy and adrenaline were palpable, even before the puck dropped.
But just as the Tampa Bay Lightning seemed to draw strength from the crowd during their previous round (winning 2-1 in Montreal), the Sabres struck on their first shift, with Tage Thompson making it 1-0. The visiting team, too, is human, and that extraordinary electricity can fuel the opposition as well. As it turned out, that was a short-lived moment as the Sabres were overwhelmed for the rest of the game.
“We’ve done well all season playing the villain role in road arenas,” Sabres goalie Alex Lyon said after the contest. “The atmosphere here was definitely strong. But that’s no excuse for us. We need to give more. I need to give more. That’s where our focus has to be for the next 48 hours.”
At least now the young, playoff-inexperienced Sabres will fully grasp what awaits them when the Bell Centre roars again on Tuesday night.
How deafening was it? Twice during the game, players missed an offside whistle and kept playing until it was made obvious. You can’t blame them—it was simply that loud. The decibel level hit 112 in the third period when the video scoreboard showed Habs goalie Jakub Dobeš, who smiled back at the crowd.
Pure chaos.
“It’s incredible,” Dobeš said after the game. “Usually it sinks in a couple of days later, everything that’s happening. But I’m just looking forward to the next game. You don’t experience this often. Our entire team deeply appreciates our fans—both inside the arena and at the watch parties outside.”
“It really warms your heart, and I’m proud to be a Canadien and to play for this franchise. It’s amazing,” Dobeš added.
The “Olé, Olé, Olé” chants persisted throughout the game, even during a second-period TV timeout. No need for artificial music from the sound system—the crowd filled that break themselves.
Over the past 20 years, the Stanley Cup playoffs have seen electrifying moments and venues. When the Boston Bruins faced the Vancouver Canucks in the 2011 final, Boston erupted like 1972 on their way to a championship. The building trembled in Chicago during anthems in the Blackhawks’ Cup years of 2010, 2013, and 2015. Oilers fans sang the national anthem memorably in Edmonton during recent Stanley Cup Final runs. As recently as last month, the reaction from Buffalo’s first playoff game in 15 years resonated across the continent.
But amid all that, the Canadiens’ new era is sparking a revival that has the entire city galvanized and dreaming of Lord Stanley again.
