LAS VEGAS | Eric Staal thanks heaven for getting another opportunity to win the Stanley Cup. Champion in 2006 with the Carolina Hurricanes, he lost with the Canadian in 2021.
If he remembers this defeat in five games against the Lightning, he also remembers the course made special due to the pandemic.
While life resumed south of the border, health restrictions forced Canadian amphitheaters to open their doors to a limited number of spectators. A period during which the Bell Center has never been so calm.
“Montreal is a fantastic place to play, but there was no one there to watch the games. It was completely different,” he said.
Staal isn’t ready to say the Canadiens would have beaten the Lightning if the Bell Center had been able to accommodate 21,000 raucous fans, but he’s sure the Floridians’ task would have been a little more complicated.
“With so many spectators in the amphitheater, it would probably have been different. This energy, you live it, you feel it. I was able to notice him as a player on the opposing team. I played playoffs there with the Hurricanes in 2006. It’s an incredible atmosphere, he said. But what do you want, it was the reality with which we had to deal at that time.
The first shock
Since the Habs had only faced the other six teams in the Canadian Division throughout the season and had faced the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Winnipeg Jets in the first two rounds, this is that in the third round that Staal and his teammates really took the measure of the world of difference that there was between Canada and the United States in the management of the pandemic.
“COVID in Canada was nothing like COVID anywhere else in the world. I remember our first semi-final game here in Vegas. We jumped on the ice and there was all this racket, all this energy, all this passion that makes us love this sport so much, ”said the Ontarian.
“I remember saying to myself, during the warm-up period: “We play hockey to experience this kind of atmosphere. It’s the best feeling in the world.”
Acquired at the trade deadline, Staal only had a brief stint with the Bleu-Blanc-Rouge. Which will not prevent him from keeping a precious memory.
“We faced the Lightning who had the best because of all the talent that there was within this team. But despite all the pitfalls we had encountered during the season, our group had done an incredible job. I played with a group of fantastic players that I will never forget.