{"id":658244,"date":"2026-05-09T13:45:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-09T13:45:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/658244\/"},"modified":"2026-05-09T13:45:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-09T13:45:12","slug":"fans-have-a-good-night-at-the-rialto-as-habs-best-sabres","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/658244\/","title":{"rendered":"Fans have a good night at the Rialto as Habs best Sabres"},"content":{"rendered":"

Well that was fun.<\/p>\n

The venerable Rialto Theatre opened its doors to Habs fans for the first time in this post-season Friday evening and it was one big party from the get-go with Montreal forward Alex Newhook scoring just 1:36 into the game. The Buffalo Sabres were never even remotely in this game, which ended 5-1 for the Canadiens<\/a>.<\/p>\n

My evening started with a sausage sandwich at Caf\u00e9 Felice on Ave. du Parc just above St. Viateur St., with owner Vincenzo \u201cVince\u201d Spinale manning the barbecue on the sidewalk, cooking up hot dogs, Italian sausages and hamburgers, to keep the patrons happy as they watched Game 2 of the second round series between the Sabres and the Canadiens.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a family event, my wife is here, my son is here, my daughter is here,\u201d said Spinale. \u201cMy mom\u2019s inside. It brings the community together.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was a tough first game of the series Wednesday, with the Habs dropping the match to the Sabres 4-2<\/a>. Montreal didn\u2019t look ready, which is maybe not surprising given they\u2019d just won an emotional seven-game series in Tampa on Sunday night. There was no gas in the tank Wednesday. But prior to Friday\u2019s game, Spinale had not lost the faith.<\/p>\n

\u201cHabs in seven,\u201d said Spinale, even before puck-drop Friday. \u201cThey are the better team. They just came out a little flat last game. They\u2019ll give a better effort tonight, that\u2019s for sure.\u201d <\/p>\n

Well it turns out that not only does Spinale make a mean BBQ sausage sandwich; He knows his hockey. The Canadiens did indeed look much better Friday, dominating the game from the first whistle to the final buzzer. And folks were loving it at the Rialto, one of Montreal\u2019s great historic theatres, located on Ave. du Parc just below Bernard Ave.<\/p>\n

\"AMontreal Canadiens fans at the Rialto Theatre watch their team play the Buffalo Sabres in Game 2 of their playoff series on May 8, 2026 Evan Buhler \/ Montreal Gazette<\/p>\n

It was pretty cool to watch this game in this beautiful old-school theatre that spent years in pretty shambolic shape until Montreal real-estate developer Ezio Carosielli\u00a0came along and renovated it, turning it into a dazzling venue. I remember so many epic shows at the Rialto back in the day, seeing artists like pioneering alt-rock band Dinosaur Jr. \u2013 one of the loudest shows I\u2019ve ever seen or heard \u2013 to rap legends Public Enemy (without Flavor Flav, who, unsurprisingly, got stopped at the border.)<\/p>\n

Rick Dexter, a seasoned music-scene guy, said Friday at the Rialto that \u201cit brings me back to seeing punk rock shows here, like The Cramps.\u201d<\/p>\n

But it wasn\u2019t just a night for nostalgia. Dexter loved what he saw from the Canadiens.<\/p>\n

\u201cAwesome game, I wasn\u2019t expecting them to dominate like they did,\u201d he said. \u201cA tour-de-force. It was really amazing to see. I wasn\u2019t predicting them to get through Buffalo but now I\u2019ve changed my tune for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tony Greywall was also happy to see the game at the Rialto but he came in with low expectations.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the first game, Montreal was toast,\u201d said Greywall. \u201cBuffalo was all over them. But today gives me a lot of hope. I think we\u2019re going to take this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Greywall lives in Toronto but he\u2019s been a Habs fan since he went to McGill University in the \u201990s.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t be a Toronto fan, it\u2019s been a building year since 1967,\u201d said Greywall, referring to the last year the Maple Leafs won the Cup. \u201cLook who they just hired as their GM. Guys, seriously. (John Chayka) drove the Arizona Coyotes into the ground.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AA young fan at the Rialto Theatre cheers on the Montreal Canadiens as they defeated the Buffalo Sabres in Game 2 on May 8, 2026. Evan Buhler \/ Montreal Gazette<\/p>\n

Corinne Roland also had a real fun soir\u00e9e. She said she and her friends usually go to Bruno Sports Bar on Beaubien Est. \u201cbut this is even better. The atmosphere is great. And it\u2019s free.\u201d<\/p>\n

Martin Aubin was celebrating his birthday Friday and he figures it was kind of the ideal way to mark the occasion, watching a key Habs win on the big screen at the Rialto.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey killed it,\u201d said Aubin. \u201cA lot of people were not sure after game one but I believe in Martin St. Louis and I believe in his teaching, his philosophy. They played very well. They neutralized what they needed to neutralize.\u201d<\/p>\n

I told him \u201cSunday night at the Bell Centre, that\u2019s going to be hot\u201d, to which Aubin quipped, \u201cthat\u2019s going to be expensive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ezio Carosielli, the owner of the Rialto, said the reason for showing the game at his Mile End theatre was simple: \u201cI\u2019m a fan and I wanted company.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said it worked out great. They had over 250 people even though they\u2019d only announced the event a couple of days ago \u201cand we\u2019re going to keep doing it until we win the Stanley Cup. We\u2019re going to cancel everything until the Canadiens win.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AMaximilian Carosielli-Rodriguez and his 5-month-old son eagerly await the start of Game 2 between the Montreal Canadiens and Buffalo Sabres at the Rialto Theatre on May 8, 2026. Evan Buhler \/ Montreal Gazette<\/p>\n

That\u2019s called keeping the faith. It also reflects how a lot of Canadiens fans feel at the moment. They feel anything really is possible. But let\u2019s not get ahead of ourselves. It was a statement win Friday but there are still three more wins needed before they punch their ticket to the Eastern Conference Final.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no telling when the (Jakub) Dobes spring will end but one thing for sure is that when Buffalo and Montreal next face-off Sunday night, here\u2019s guaranteeing the fans will literally blow the roof off the joint. More fun coming.<\/p>\n

\t\tEditor\u2019s Picks\t<\/p>\n

bkelly@postmedia.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Well that was fun. The venerable Rialto Theatre opened its doors to Habs fans for the first time…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":658245,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194292],"tags":[49,48,2338],"class_list":["post-658244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-montreal","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-montreal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/658244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=658244"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/658244\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/658245"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=658244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=658244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=658244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}