The Penguins were the reigning Stanley Cup champions, led by superstar Sidney Crosby, who was held to one goal and four assists in the series.
Crosby congratulated his 2007 world championship teammate, Mike Cammalleri, in the handshake line.
"Great series, Cammy. Keep on going!" Cammalleri has scored 12 goals in 14 games as the Canadiens continue their long march to the Stanley Cup. They're halfway there.
In their first-round series, the Canadiens dispatched high-flying Alexander Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals, who had finished first in the NHL during the regular season.
The Canadiens were begun in 1909, eight years before the NHL ever existed. They are its oldest team, and have won the Stanley Cup 24 times. Incredibly, they have won 25% of all Stanley Cup championships contested after the Challenge Cup era (for background, read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_Cup_champions#Challenge_Cup_era ).
Several times in the postseason, American friends have asked me why the Canadiens are called the Habs. It's an abbreviation of "Les Habitants". This name was originally applied to French farmers who settled along the St. Lawrence River and Gulf of St. Lawrence in what is now the province of Quebec. [pictured below in a painting by Canadian artist Cornelius Krieghoff (1815-1872)].
We'll see where the Habs go from here. They play the winners of the series between the Boston Bruins (the NHL's second-oldest team) and the Philadelphia Flyers, which will be decided tonight.
The Habs are led by their outstanding goalie Jaroslav Halak (a Slovakian). They were thought to be too small and too soft to advance. We'll see, but many of us are rooting for them.
The Canadians last won the Stanley Cup in 1993.
Recently my friend Roger gave me a Montreal Canadiens baseball cap. These days I'm displaying it on the front dashboard of my car.
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