Experiencing a Neutral-Site Playoff Game With No Fans

TORONTO - The Carolina Hurricanes' team bus arrived at Scotiabank Arena at 10 a.m. on Saturday morning.
With suits on, masks on and Tim Horton's in hand, the team made its way down the event level hallway, past the designated COVID-19 testing arena, past the Toronto Raptors' locker room, which the
Canes used during their exhibition game
, and past the visiting team locker room, which was where the famed
David Ayres postgame celebration played out
in February.

The Canes proceeded down the hallway and hung a left into the Toronto Maple Leafs' locker room. "This is kind of weird," I remarked to Jordan Staal. He agreed. Maybe a little less weird for Jake Gardiner, who played for the Leafs as recently as the spring of 2019, but still kind of weird none the less.
"Guys were asking me questions on where stuff was," Gardiner said on Sunday. "It was definitely [weird]."
It is 2020, after all.
The Canes wanted to make it feel a little more like home, so they draped a pair of flags in the walkway into the locker room, underneath framed classic Toronto sweaters. At the end of the walkway stood the "Earn It" banner, which otherwise lives in the hallway of the Fairmont Royal York, just outside the main elevator bank on the Canes' floor of the hotel.

Little touches, like
family pictures in hotel rooms
, to make Toronto feel more like Raleigh.
As the pregame clocked ticked down to warm-ups, the opening notes of "All of the Lights" blared in the arena, and what followed in the next 16 minutes was a signature DJ Mista Illz warm-up music mix. If you closed your eyes and absorbed the sounds, it dropped you back inside PNC Arena.

"It gives you memories of the season," Gardiner said. "The fans aren't there, but the vibe in warm-ups, the same songs. It's not the same, but it's nice to have that stuff, too."
The NHL's aim is to make designated "home" games feel as much like home games as possible. There was the
Canes' pregame hype video
.
"Notice … the enormous forces … of nature," crackled
the sample of Professor Julius Sumner Miller
from ABC's classic science television program, "Why Is It So?"
Then, a warning siren and the opening riffs of "Rock You Like a Hurricane." The Canes, outfitted in their
black third uniforms
, hit the ice.
Had this game taken place in Raleigh, that moment would have been punctuated by thunderous applause from a sold-out barn. Instead, the notes of The Scorpions' classic hit reverberated throughout a barren building.
The anthems for both Canada and the United States were "sung" via a recorded clip of Adam Lee Decker.
When Jaccob Slavin snuck in from the point and roofed a shot over Henrik Lundqvist just 61 seconds into the game, a sound clip of the Canes' physical goal horn, one that relocated with the franchise from Hartford, blasted. Ric Flair's signature, "That's a Carolina Hurricanes goal! Woo! Woo, woo!" and Petey Pablo's "Raise Up," followed.

Before each of the Canes' seven power plays, the "Cheaters Never Win" chant beat echoed before rolling into 2 Unlimited's "Twilight Zone."
During certain stoppages of play, video clips of fans chanting "Let's Go Canes," played on the video board and the video screens that flanked the stage erected in the lower bowl behind either team bench. (Much like the State Fair-themed Winter Classic and Air Force-themed Stadium Series, the NHL knocked it out of the park with their set design for this postseason tournament. The made-for-TV arrangement helps draw the eye to the action on the ice in an otherwise cavernous building.)
It was, as best could be emulated, a Canes' home game.
Except, when Mika Zibanejad redirected Ryan Lindgren's shot to get New York on the board late in the second period, the Rangers' goal horn and goal song boomed in the rink.
That wasn't the NHL's initial plan because, again, they wanted "home" games to feel as authentic as possible. They made the last-minute switch, though, to "add energy" to the building, according to an
ESPN interview with Steve Mayer
, the league's chief content officer and senior executive VP of events and entertainment.
It's understandable reasoning in a one-of-a-kind event. But, home-ice advantage is already basically non-existent in a neutral-site game, so I'm not a fan of any edge - as slight as it may be - being taken away from a team that earned it in the regular season.
"Aren't we the home team?" Williams agreed. "I didn't care for when their goal song came on when they scored. I didn't care for that."
From the first day of training camp in Phase 3, head coach Rod Brind'Amour
knew the Canes would face a unique challenge
when the puck dropped in the Stanley Cup Qualifiers.
"What's going to hit you like a … ton of bricks is when you go out there and there's no people in the stands," he told his team. "We need to keep our own juice going. So, if you're a guy who doesn't speak too much or chirp too much on the bench, you're going to have to do it."

The Canes emphasized energy and communication. If there weren't going to be 18,000-plus fans sparking the team, the 18 skaters and two goaltenders would have to carry the load.
From my angle in a 200-level suite, you could hear plenty of chatter on the rink. The hoots and hollers when a big hit landed. A cheerful bench when a goal was scored. A chirping bench when Tony DeAngelo took an ill-advised penalty late in regulation. The Canes' extras, sitting in the stands in the lower bowl opposite their team's bench, also provided a smattering of cheers.
Brady Skjei created some juice just 32 seconds into the game, lighting up Jesper Fast in the neutral zone. The Canes' bench hopped up, cheering the physical play. Slavin kept the energy alive when he scored 29 seconds later.
And then, Williams dropped the gloves with Ryan Strome in the neutral zone. He bloodied Strome's nose with an early right, and the Canes were all in.

"There was a lot of emotion at the start of the game, which was awesome to see because there was nobody physically there watching us," Williams said after the game. "But you get on the ice, and it's compete. There was a lot of emotion and a lot of adrenaline to start the game."
That all happened before Game 1 was even three minutes old, but it was enough energy to ignite the Canes in a
3-2 victory over the Rangers
.
There wasn't a Storm Surge - fans are a critical element of the Canes' signature postgame win celebration, which they didn't carry into the 2019 playoffs, anyhow - but there was DJ Khaled's "All I Do Is Win."
Even if it looked and sounded a bit different than we're used to it looking and sounding, there was no mistaking that it was playoff hockey.
"Everyone played like it was a playoff game, really," Gardiner said. "It had that vibe to it, for sure."