The Montreal Canadiens are advancing to the Eastern Conference Finals against the winner of Friday's Game 7 between the Flyers and Bruins in Boston (8 p.m. ET, VERSUS, TSN, RDS).
Here is a look at some of what is being said in Montreal about the Canadiens in both English and French.
Dave Stubbs, The Gazette -- In this age of environmental awareness, the Canadiens chose not to fly home to Montreal last night aboard a jet.
They rode a magic carpet.
Was there a better way to travel after this team's second consecutive supernatural, seven-game series win? Not that the Canadiens' rug wasn't buffeted by more than a little turbulence en route to their dramatic 5-2 Game 7 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins. ....
Now, this remarkable team savours the victory in and around a city that has gone truly quite mad. And it waits for the winner of the Bruins-Flyers series, which goes to Game 7 tomorrow. ....
There was another benchmark, one more abstract: which team would better manage its sweaty palms and shortness of breath? That would be the Canadiens, a team that perhaps we should stop calling improbable or Cinderella or even an underdog. A team to which we should stop attaching any label that downplays a fiercely proud group that has never doubted its belief in itself.
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Big games becoming old hat for Halak
COVERAGE ›Mike Boone, Habs Inside/Out -- Jaro Halak is joining the goaltending legends of a franchise that's had a few.
EVERY ONE of Bob Gainey's signings was inspired.
Even Travis Moen.
Team of destiny?
It's getting hard to think of this amazing bunch as anything else.
And they're blowing the minds of a whole generation of fans who don't remember 1993. ...
And how about some props for the kindly old coach?
Jacques Martin limped through the season with an injury-riddled lineup.
Then he got his team.
And it played the kind of smart hockey he's tried to teach since training camp.
All the media diss Martin for being boring.
News flash: His job is not to make news.
Pat Hickey, The Gazette -- The too-small Canadiens opened the scoring 32 seconds into the first period and built a 4-0 lead by the 5:14 mark of the second period. ...
Key number: 8. The number of games Canadiens must win for their 25th Stanley Cup. ....
The Canadiens won most of the battles, killed off five penalties, blocked 26 shots to three for the Penguins and continued to frustrate Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. While Michael Cammalleri had seven goals in this series, Crosby and Malkin finished the series with one each.
Eric Duhatschek, The Globe and Mail -- In the Montreal Canadiens' long pantheon of playoff success, every unexpected triumph usually develops its own little shorthand to mark the occasion. A reference to '71 usually conjures up images and memories of Ken Dryden's extraordinary goaltending performance. The years '86 and '93 recall heroic work from Patrick Roy.
And now, halfway through a most extraordinary and unforeseen playoff run, it looks as if the spring of '10 could go down in Canadiens' history as the Year of the Smurf.
It may not be as catchy as the Flying Frenchmen, but it is hard to dispute the impact of Montreal's dogged little men, from Michael Cammalleri to Brian Gionta with a little Scott Gomez and Tomas Plekanec thrown in.
