MONTREAL — Corey Perry expects the noise to be coming hard and fast Friday night, and he sounds ready for it. The 40-year-old Tampa Bay Lightning forward said that if Canadiens fans start booing when he touches the puck in Game 3 at Bell Centre, it means he is doing something right.
“If the fans see you have the puck and start booing, you’re doing something right. So, you know, you embrace it, you have fun with it, and it gives you a little fuel,” Perry said Thursday. “You know, it’s fun when you go into another building and they all know who you are.” The Lightning and Canadiens were set to meet in the Eastern Conference First Round on Friday at 7 p.m. ET in front of 21,105 with the series tied 1-1 after Tampa Bay’s 3-2 win on J.J. Moser’s overtime goal Tuesday.
Perry had already made himself part of this series before the puck drops. In Game 2, he took a double minor for roughing in the first period and yelled at Canadiens players from the penalty box. That followed Montreal’s 2-1 win at Bell Centre on April 9, a game that produced 126 penalty minutes and included Perry shoving defenseman Lane Hutson and telling him to get off the ice.
That edge is not new for Perry in Montreal. He played one season with the Canadiens in 2020-21, when they reached the Stanley Cup Final before losing to Tampa Bay, and he was a favorite during that stint. Now he is back in the same building as an enemy in a series that has already tilted rough and personal. The Lightning led the NHL in penalties during the regular season with 425, and their physical style is part of why Montreal fans are expected to aim their boos at more than one Tampa Bay player.
That is part of the calculation, too. Lightning coach Jon Cooper put it plainly: “somebody’s got to be the villain, I guess. We’re OK with it.” Perry was even blunter about the way playoff hockey works. “It’s hockey,” he said. “I mean, you can be friends with guys off the ice. But man, as soon as that puck drops, it’s game on. We’re playing for a Stanley Cup. You’re in the playoffs. You can talk and shoot the (crap) later, and have fun with it later on, and laugh about it. But it’s playoff time. You do anything to help your team win.”
Friday night will tell whether Montreal turns Perry into the face of its frustration or whether he turns that noise into momentum. Either way, he is coming in expecting to hear every bit of it.
