This wasn’t the Rangers crowd that Canadiens star remembers
Max Pacioretty is filled with fond memories of Madison Square Garden. Now in his ninth season with the Canadiens, Pacioretty spent most of his life as a Rangers fan, riding the rails from New Canaan, Conn., to midtown Manhattan, where he’d be enthralled watching Mark Messier on the ice, and “Dancing Larry” on the Jumbotron.
Pacioretty remembers sold-out crowds, an intimidating venue, the sound of thousands screaming in unison. In Game 3 of Montreal’s first-round playoff series against the Rangers, those memories didn’t align with reality. Though every seat was filled, nearly every fan was silent, helplessly watching the Rangers lose their sixth straight playoff game at home.
On the few occasions the crowd took its collective finger off the mute button — most noticeably to voice displeasure with a play that former Islander Denis Potvin made in 1979 — Pacioretty didn’t even notice, unable to hear the famed chant he clearly recalls from childhood.
“I remember everything about it, and the whistling, but did they say it [Sunday]?” Pacioretty asked Monday.
Yes, the fans did repeatedly insult the now Florida Panthers broadcaster, but the Canadiens were spared any wrath in what felt like a game played at a neutral site.
The lack of energy in the famed arena was surprising to Pacioretty, who said it didn’t seem like a typical New York crowd, but the 28-year-old wing wasn’t counting on the fans sleeping through Game 4.
“Given the day or the frustration, I guess, the other side had,” said Pacioretty, attempting to explain the tame atmosphere without offending the Garden crowd, “but we know that’s not gonna be the case [Tuesday]. This is a special place to play, and [the Rangers] get a lot of energy from their crowd, despite what I know people are talking about their home record.
“They have great support from their crowd, and our job is to limit that as much as possible, and we saw that in our first game here. It’s our job to make sure we try and keep the crowd out of it because it can be a huge momentum swing, especially in the playoffs, and we’ve seen it go the other way when we played them a couple years ago.”
When the Rangers and Canadiens met in the 2014 Eastern Conference Finals, the Blueshirts won two of three games at the Garden, including the series-clinching Game 6.
Right now, that seems as long ago as Pacioretty rooting for the Rangers.