Canadiens Haven’t Forgotten Kucherov’s 2021 Remark Ahead of Playoff Rematch

After winning his second straight Stanley Cup, Nikita Kucherov, still shirtless, walked up to the podium and made a comment that Montreal Canadiens fans and players alike have not forgotten. “The fans in Montreal acted like they won the Stanley Cup last game. Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me? Their final was last round.”

On July 7, 2021, after the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Canadiens in five games, Kucherov, who led the playoffs in scoring, used his first moments at the microphone to mock Montreal fans for celebrating a win. The trigger was Game 4 at the Bell Centre, an overtime win that briefly reignited hope Montreal could upset the defending champions. The city erupted, and Kucherov chose to address it on his Cup-winning night.

What Kucherov Missed

The generous interpretation is that the comment sprang from genuine bewilderment, the type that makes sense only if you consider the Canadiens just another team and Montreal just another city.

Founded in 1909, the Canadiens have 24 Stanley Cups. Hockey’s presence in Montreal is deeply rooted: it fills cultural space rather than competing for it. When the team made the final for the first time in 28 years, beating opponents no one expected, they weren’t just celebrating an overtime win; the Bell Centre crowd responded to a long-awaited moment, their anticipation clear and easily misread as overreaction from the outside.

The franchise has long held itself to a standard where conduct matters as much as results, a tradition rooted in class. That runs through players like Jean Beliveau, known for his dignity, and Shea Weber, who led without noise. Saku Koivu represented it in his own way, through resilience, humility, and the respect he carried in a market that asks a great deal of its captains. Nick Suzuki carries that same composure today: steady, respectful, and never making himself the center of attention.

Kucherov’s comments ran directly against all of that, a winner using his biggest moment to ridicule the losing fanbase for daring to celebrate a win. Most cities would have filed it away as trash talk and forgotten it by morning. Montreal couldn’t, because that kind of behaviour conflicts with everything the franchise has stood for across generations, and it landed differently here and has stayed that way.

Why the Line Stuck

Comments like this don’t linger because they’re clever. What Kucherov’s comment revealed, inadvertently, standing at the podium on his greatest night, was that he had watched an entire city pour its heart into that run and come away with nothing more than irritation that they’d celebrated a win. That’s a particular kind of dismissiveness, and Montreal hasn’t forgiven it.

Given the typical NHL player’s restrained demeanour, rarely saying anything controversial, these comments were genuinely surprising. That honesty gave the line staying power. It reflected what he truly thought.

Whether or not it’s pinned to the Canadiens’ dressing room wall tonight, and it’s hard to imagine it isn’t, it’s served as bulletin board material for five years, not just for the players but for the entire fanbase. Montreal remembers. The city has a long memory for moments that expose how little someone understands what they face, and Kucherov gave them one on the night he was supposed to be untouchable.

Now the Rematch

Five years later, the Canadiens face the Lightning in Round 1 of the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs, a rematch of the 2021 Final. Game 1 is tonight in Tampa, 5:45 p.m. ET at Benchmark International Arena.

Those late-season meetings offered a glimpse of what could follow in how Montreal targeted Kucherov. He has played through hard playoff attention before. This time, though, it is not just playoff hockey. There is already bad blood between Montreal and Tampa, and what he said in 2021 gives Montreal one more reason to make life very difficult for him, and that could decide the series.