Flames engulf the ice as the first notes play, though they’re hardly audible over the crowd’s chant of “Olé, olé, olé.” They’re waiting for their Montreal Canadiens to emerge from the dressing room, and they can’t wait much longer.That familiar guitar riff rises. The goaltender appears in the tunnel. The public address announcer, Michel Lacroix, hollers the phrase that has become his trademark.“Mesdames et messieurs, ladies and gentlemen, accueillons nos Canadiens!”Welcome our Canadiens.The Bell Centre crowd of 20,962 — the largest in the NHL — does as instructed, fueled, as the best sports crowds are, by the swelling of a familiar song. It’s AC/DC or it’s Metallica or it’s (still) Ye (formerly known as Kanye West).Or, in Montreal, it’s “Fix You,” a sappy power ballad written by Coldplay frontman Chris Martin after the death of his then-wife Gwyneth Paltrow’s father.Accueillons nos Canadiens!These pregame moments are a hallmark of modern live sporting events, designed to electrify the crowd, which usually means teams select a song that carries pure adrenaline. But in Montreal, for the oldest team in the NHL, the sentimental grandiosity of “Fix You” has become an indelible part of the experience. It’s been 33 years since the Canadiens won the most recent of their 24 Stanley Cups, and when Montreal went to the Stanley Cup finals in 2021, pandemic restrictions limited the crowd to 3,500. When the Canadiens host the Buffalo Sabres in Game 6 of the second round Saturday night, it’ll be the most meaningful game the Bell Centre has seen at full capacity in more than a decade. “There are places like that that are very special,” said Ray Lalonde, the former chief marketing and sales officer for the Canadiens. “And even though the Canadiens have not won a lot in the last several years, when the playoffs come around, people start dreaming again. ... It’s a place to see once in your life if you’re a hockey fan. A playoff game in Montreal is incredible.”Lalonde was part of the team that selected “Fix You” in the fall of 2005, shortly after the song was released. The NHL was emerging from the lockout that eliminated the 2004-05 season, and the Canadiens were looking for the perfect song to anchor the ceremonial, poignant atmosphere they wanted to create.They’d played other Coldplay songs throughout the arena in the past and noticed the fans’ response, and the powerful instrumental section in the middle of “Fix You” served a perfect dual purpose. It was sweeping and emotional, well-suited for a moment intended to connect fans with the Canadiens’ vast history. And, logistically, because they weren’t using the lyrics, the song could easily be looped or shortened if the pregame timing needed to be adjusted. Before joining the Canadiens in 2001, Lalonde had worked for the NBA and witnessed the scene created when the Chicago Bulls introduced Michael Jordan in the starting lineup to the droning prog-rock anthem “Sirius” by the Alan Parsons Project. Lights out, music up. “From North Carolina, 6-6, Michael Jordan.” The roof blew off. “Everybody then left their seats, went to get a beer, went to get some food. Nobody would ever miss that pregame moment, because Michael Jordan was the absolute world-class, stratospheric athlete,” Lalonde recalled. “I went to Montreal with the Canadiens and I said, ‘Okay, this is what we’re going to be replicating. This is the kind of moment we need to create.’”Montreal didn’t have a Michael Jordan. But it had its history. The Canadiens have operated continuously since 1909, eight years before the NHL was founded in 1917, and are the oldest professional hockey team in the world.Lalonde wanted to ensure that the experience of attending a game at the Bell Centre — something fans pay “extraordinary dollars” for — was a sight to behold every night. He couldn’t guarantee that the Canadiens would win, but he could guarantee a memorable experience every time a fan stepped into the building. Through music and the design of the pregame ceremony, which includes a torch being carried out and two children skating around the ice before the Canadiens enter, Lalonde and his staff built a moment that connected the past and the future.“We always made sure we had the best songs to open the game, in the prelude, in the pregame, in the moment of anticipation for fans,” Lalonde said. “And we wanted the visiting team to feel it and feel intimidated by it.”“Fix You” was an instant hit for the Canadiens. Karl Alzner, who was drafted by the Washington Capitals in 2007, still remembers his excitement when he experienced the song and the Montreal atmosphere for the first time. It was December 2008, early in the fourth season with “Fix You” as the Canadiens’ introductory song. “I had already heard about it and I’d seen it on TV and stuff so I was pumped to see what it was like in person,” Alzner said. “It really didn’t disappoint. The fans, I think it’s one of those things they really take pride in.”The sheer volume was intimidating, Alzner said, and the emotion the ceremony stirred in the crowd was palpable, even though “the song itself is not intimidating for the visitors.”Alzner joined the Canadiens in 2017 after playing nine seasons in Washington. Though he’d been on the other side of “Fix You” for those nine years and knew what to expect, the reality of experiencing the pageantry as a Montreal Canadien was still striking. “It’s fun to come through that tunnel,” Alzner said. “It’s fun knowing what’s going through the other team’s head as well. It’s such a boost to a team when you come out into your building and it’s rocking already. For us, regardless if we were playing good or bad, the fans were still rocking at the beginning of every game.”If the Canadiens win Saturday, and if the Canadiens keep winning, “Fix You” could get as many as six more spins at the Bell Centre this year. More likely, the music will fade sooner, if not against the Carolina Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference finals then in the Stanley Cup finals. Either way, the kids and the goalie and the flames will return come fall, and you know what will be playing when they do.