NHL players and fans waited 9 years for best-on-best hockey. The 4 Nations Face-Off’s opener in Montreal more than delivered.

MONTREAL — They say a picture is worth a thousand words.

But what about sound? What about a deafening roar that swallows you whole and transports you? A roar so loud that it shakes you to your core and takes you back to the moment you fell in love with hockey?

On Wednesday, that roar enveloped everyone inside the Bell Centre for the opening game of the 4 Nations Face-Off between Canada and Sweden. It gave those in the seats and the press box chills that felt warm and familiar. It sent the hairs on your arms up in the air and, without even knowing, a smile across your face.

For the players, too.

“It was great,” Travis Konecny told The Inquirer. “I mean, I think it caught a lot of us off guard when we came up for warmups. Like, it was pretty much a full rink right away. So, pretty cool atmosphere.”

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After warmups, first came the cheers for coach Jon Cooper. The pressure he must have felt in that moment.

Then came the rolling thunder when Sidney Crosby was announced as a member of Canada’s starting lineup.

“As someone who loves to play in environments like that, I grew up a Montreal Canadiens fan and to have an ovation like that here was really special and something I’ll always remember,” Crosby said.

The explosion of love and gratitude for the 2010 golden-goal scorer, whose availability due to injury was up in the air until Monday, felt like it would never stop. But it did — and it would soon be dwarfed by the only man who could.

The praise was not gifted for Mark Stone or Nathan MacKinnon, Crosby’s fellow Nova Scotian, who got a loud cheer of his own. No, it would take some time. Sweden’s coach Sam Hallam and the entire Swedish starting lineup had to be booed — especially Toronto Maple Leafs forward William Nylander.

After that came some of the greatest to ever wear their country’s jerseys. There were friendly cheers for retired legends like Finland’s Teemu Selänne, Sweden’s Daniel Alfredsson, and even United States goalie Mike Richter, who famously stonewalled Canada in Montreal at the 1996 World Cup. There were some boos for Auston Matthews, in the USA jersey he will wear on Thursday as the team’s captain.

And then came the pinnacle moment of the night. The cheers and adoration showered down. It seemed louder than when Mitch Marner scored the overtime winner a few hours later. The Bell Centre roared so loud the ghosts at the old Forum a few blocks away were surely woken up.

“Mario, Mario, Mario,” the faithful cheered as Mario Lemieux walked out.

“It was super loud,” goalie Jordan Binnington said. “The fans are so passionate here. It’s really, to be on this side of it it’s incredible. So loud and, obviously Mario means a lot to the city and this country. So that was a special moment.”

The anthems played — after a message asking fans to respect each country’s song in response to the recent boos at Canadian arenas in retaliation to President Donald Trump’s proposed tariffs on Canadian imports — and the puck dropped. Just 44 seconds into the game, Nylander was sent to the box for high-sticking and 12 seconds later Canada’s star-studded power play struck, as MacKinnon buried the opener from the bottom of the left circle. Connor McDavid to Crosby to MacKinnon.

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Yep, things got loud again. There was an ooh and an aah when Konecny tried to throw a hit and missed. And it got louder when Brad Marchand made it 2-0 on a first-period two-on-one. Sweden’s Jonas Brodin cut it to one midway through the second before Stone scored off a pass from Crosby to restore the two-goal lead late in the period.

Then the Swedish fans — you couldn’t miss them in yellow — got to celebrate. Adrian Kempe and Joel Eriksson Ek notched third-period goals, with Konecny and his linemates on for both.

“Our goal as a line was trying to not get scored on, we gave up two, so obviously that’s a frustrating thing,” the Flyers winger said. “But overall, for playing with new guys and just trying to keep it simple, and playing kind of a checking role, and just trying to get momentum, I think we did a pretty good job.”

There was a moment in the third period when even the Canadians had to give praise. Filip Gustavsson absolutely robbed Devon Toews in the slot with his blocker while making a desperation stretch.

And then came overtime.

“There’s just so much tension there, and you’re just dying for something to happen with so many good looks,” Konecny said.

Marner buried the game-winner about six minutes into the extended extra session (overtime is 10 minutes in the 4 Nations’ round-robin games) off a long drop pass from Crosby.

Amid a sea of red jerseys — from the rafters to the ice — Canadians celebrated a 4-3 victory.

“The rink was loud and I think we anticipated it being really good. But definitely blew our expectations out of the water,” Konecny said.

“It was super cool,” Marner of the Maple Leafs said. “I really just tried to enjoy the moment after. The building was rocking and it was nice to have them cheering for me instead of against me.”

Konecny finished with one blocked shot and three hits in 10 minutes, 20 seconds of ice time. He did not see the ice after the 7:39 mark of the third period. ... Canada defenseman Shea Theodore left the game in the second period with an injury and is out for the remainder of the tournament. Canada cannot add a player, so Flyers defenseman Travis Sanheim, a healthy scratch on Wednesday, will slot in. ... Sam Ersson had to try a hot dog at the Bell Centre. “Best in the league,” he said as he chomped down. Indeed. Montreal hot dogs are world-famous.

The United States takes on Finland on Thursday (8 p.m., ESPN, ESPN+).

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