How times have changed: The Videotron Centre in Quebec City will host a viewing party for Game 5 between the Montreal Canadiens and Buffalo Sabres.
The game will be held Thursday at 7 p.m. at KeyBank Center.
Tickets will cost $12 and proceeds will go to three organizations, including the Montreal Canadiens Children’s Foundation. Doors will open an hour before puck drop at 6 p.m.
Should the Canadiens win Game 4 on Tuesday, the Habs would have an opportunity to eliminate Buffalo in Game 5.
While a Canadiens-Sabres series does hearken back to the old Adams Division days in the NHL, so, too, did the epic battles between the Habs and Quebec Nordiques. Back then, a Canadiens game presented on the Jumbotron of Le Colisée would have seemed unfathomable.
The two Quebec clubs last met in the playoffs in 1993 when the Canadiens stormed back to win the series after going down 2-0. They won their 24th and most recent Cup that year. The Nordiques moved to Colorado to become the Avalanche following the 1994-95 season.
On a recent episode of Hockey Inside Out, Chris Nilan called the Montreal-Quebec rivalry “an atom bomb.”
Old hostilities were briefly renewed this season, at least visually, when the Canadiens took on the Avalanche in Nordiques sweaters.
François Legault’s government came under fire for spending between $5 million and $6 million in taxpayer money to woo the NHL’s Los Angeles Kings to the Videotron Centre for two pre-season games in 2024. Legault later called the decision “an error.”