That's another preseason in the books for the Montreal Canadiens. While most of the Habs nation was rather apprehensive after the hockey lesson their “Glorieux” were thought by the Tampa Bay Lightning in a 4-1 rout on Thursday night, tonight's performance has once again righted things in Habs land. In front of a full house at Le Colisée (that's right not one free seat in the house even though this was only an exhibition game) the Canadiens pulled a very exciting display out of their hat. If you read my take on the morning skate, I have to report that I was wrong in my assessment. The team might have looked asleep during the morning's practice but it was certainly awake tonight and it came to play. I cannot say what happened between the morning skate and game time but something must have done.

Right from the get go, the Canadiens pressed on, they came out hungry and it showed. While the Lightning must have been eager to please, they were quite simply outclassed. The visitors put their local heroes in the starting line-up; Lecavalier, St. Louis, Bergeron and Garon were all on the ice for the opening face-off but it wasn't enough to make them feel at home. The Habs played a fast, strong game and won the crowd over in minutes. Yes, they did have to win the crowd over, don't forget; this is Nordiques territory and the Habs once were mortal enemies to the Quebec City masses.

Halfway through the first period, while the Canadiens were shorthanded Brian Gionta provided a remarkable second effort to break free of the Tampa Bay defense and score the first goal of the game in spectacular fashion. The Colisée literally exploded with cheers and the sound was deafening. The rest of the first period was rather tame aside from the fact that Ryan Malone seemed to be looking for trouble, one thing is for sure, he and P.K. Subban should not under any circumstance be invited to attend the same party,

The start of the second period was quite hectic, 3 goals were scored in a little over 3 minutes. The first of which was put away by Scott Gomez who is working hard at finding redemption after a dismal season last year. It was his 3rd goal of the preseason and his face absolutely lit up when he hit the back of the net. Seems he is on his way to finding the said redemption, he was voted the first star of the night. After Gomez hit the target, Lecavalier showcased his tremendous skills by backhanding a loose puck in the top of the Canadiens net. This was to be the only time Price would be beaten on the night...after all, the Lightning only managed to shoot 19 times which is a far cry from a busy night for the Canadien's net minder. In fact, the number 1 even had time to join in the wave started by the crowd, a rather funny sight I will admit.

After Lecavalier made it 2-1 Montreal, Jaroslav Spacek directed a shot towards the Bolts' net which was expertly deflected by Mathieu Darche to make it 3-1. It was a rather pleasant sigh for Habs fans to see Spacek do something right...to say that he has had a hard preseason would be an understatement. The last tally of the second period was notched by the Habs' big free agent signing of the summer; Erik Cole. While he looked awkward and out of place for most of the evening, he did still manage to put the Habs ahead 4-1. Jacques Martin will expect more from him during the season though and will not want to see him flat on the ice as often as he did tonight; he was hit on numerous occasions and didn't seem to be able to take the punishment. Interestingly, he spent the night on the third line with Desharnais and Darche. When he was signed, he was definitely pencilled-in as a top 6 forward...

The last period saw Plekanec pull out a wonderful individual effort to empty the Tampa Bay crease and send the puck to the front of the net for Cammalleri to tap it in. That most likely was the easiest goal he ever scored. Aside from that play, the sold out Colisée also saw Ryan Malone (more than likely) book himself a date with Brendan Shanahan for a dangerous hit to the head of the Habs' new D-man Chris Campoli. One has to wonder what Malone was thinking, not only do these kinds of hit have no place in the game but Shanny has made himself pretty clear about the way those will be handle from now on since he took office. Time will tell what kind of punishment Malone will face but as it happened, Gorges saw red and pounced on the offender to avenge his teammate. The crowd got on its feet and a loud “Gorges” chant filled up the place. Gorge got a pretty bad cut for his troubles but safe to say the wounded hero didn't mind about that, he did the right thing and stood up for the new guy.

So another year, another preseason in the history books...the Habs close out that one with a 2-6 record but after seeing last night's display, the mood amongst fans was definitely on the up and once more, all hope is allowed for the Habs faithful. As Quebec City wakes up this morning though, everyone is ready to commemorate the first anniversary of “La Marche Bleue”. Activities are planned throughout the day including a hockey cosom game downtown featuring players from the Nordiques' past and if people need another motivation to mark the day, over a 100 shops around the town and its neighbouring areas are offering discount to anyone dressed in blue. I for one expect to see Nordiques colors all over the place today as the good people from Quebec are hoping to get some media coverage on this and send yet another message that they are ready and willing to the NHL front office. Let's hope “La journée bleue” is as successful as “La marche bleue” was....

While the Canadiens' fans hope their team lights up the ice this season, the Nordiques fans just plain hope...but as “Captain Nordiques” (a man dressed up in a Captain America modified costume at last night's game) best said it last night through a colorful Nordiques sign: Don't stop believing...