BOSTON — All afternoon at the TD Garden, the mocking chants rained down on the ice: “Lu-onnnnggg-oooo!!! Lu-oooonnnnnngggg-ooooo!!!”
But as Roberto Luongo sat comfortably at the end of the Canucks’ bench, Cory Schneider was putting on quite the show in the Canucks’ crease.
The 25-year-old Massachusetts native made 36 saves in the 4-3 win for Vancouver, and he was able to do it in front of about 15 friends and family members.
“It’s a great feeling,” Schneider said in the Canucks’ dressing room. “As a college player [at Boston College], I didn’t know if I would ever get the chance to play here again, so to be able to come back and have this opportunity in front of a lot of friends and family and people home watching, it was really cool.”
Schneider said that most of his Boston-area friends root for him over the Bruins, but he said he knew the Boston crowd wouldn’t be cheering for him on Saturday.
“Different vibe but we got a good taste of it last year, so it’s nothing new and it was completely expected,” Schneider said. “It was a great atmosphere to play in. It’s a fun building to play in, and again, it was fun for me to play in front of people who have grown up cheering for me and supporting me my whole life.”
The win was big in itself, as it featured the Eastern and Western Conference champions from last season and also two of the best squads in the league this season. Schneider admitted there was some leftover feeling from last June, but this year’s win is more about what lies ahead.
“Last year, it’s done with and there are some memories and bad blood carried over,” he said. “But in the scheme of things, for us to come out and be on the road and have a really hard billing against the best team in the league, it’s a big statement for our win.”
