Bruins captain Brad Marchand is in unfamiliar territory.

The feisty 5-foot-9 forward, for the first time in his professional career, was not booed when he stepped on the ice at the Bell Centre in Montreal.

In fact, Marchand not only didn’t hear the boos ring down on him when he touched the puck, the Halifax, Nova Scotia native received cheers and accolades.

Marchand took a beauty of a pass from Tampa Bay Lightning’s Brayden Point on a 2-on-1 break to beat Sweden goaltender Filip Gustavsson and give Canada a 2-0 lead at 13:15 of the opening frame of the 4 Nations Face-Off.

“I heard a few boos out there still,” Marchand joked with TNT’s Jackie Redmond during the first intermission. “But no, it’s incredible the way that Canada rallies behind the team. You feel so much love and emotion. You can see how excited they are out there, so it’s been fun to be out there.”

The third line of Marchand, Point and Hurricanes’ Seth Jarvis have the most combined (73) goals in the current NHL season entering the tournament.

Canada extended their lead after Colorado Avalanche star Nathan MacKinnon opened the scoring just 56 seconds into the game with a power-play goal.

Early goal answers ‘Will Canadiens fans cheer for Brad Marchand?’ question

MONTREAL — Brad Marchand has been asked the same question several times since the logistics of the NHL 4 Nations Face-Off were announced.

“Would fans in Montreal actually cheer for Brad Marchand? Obviously not in a Bruins uniform. But playing for Team Canada against Sweden at the Bell Centre?

Canadiens fans come off the factory line wired to hate almost everyone who plays for the Bruins. But there are degrees. They respected Patrice Bergeron the way many Red Sox fans respected Derek Jeter.

And most hockey fans hate Marchand, whose playing style has frustrated opponents around the NHL and angered their fans.

Over the course of his career, Marchand has been especially irritating to Montreal fans.

In 56 games against the Bruins’ hated rival, he has 17 goals (including four game-winners) and 31 assists. His 81 penalty minutes against Les Habitants are the most he’s had vs. any opponent.

Marchand wasn’t in the starting lineup for Team Canada, so there was no opportunity to cheer or boo ahead of time.

But with 6:45 left in the first, Marchand finished a pass from Brayden Point on a 2-on-1 to put Canada ahead.

The fans naturally cheered the goal and when Marchand’s name was announced for scoring, most of the crowd cheered. There were a couple of stray boos, but they were mostly drowned out. The ovation wasn’t as loud as it was for Canadian national hero Sidney Crosby when he scored the first goal, but they cheered.