Buckle up, folks. Article content

Long before the Ottawa Senators decided to turn Tuesday’s exhibition game in Quebec City into a re-enactment of the notorious 1984 Canadiens-Nordiques brawl known as the Good Friday Massacre, the season that begins Wednesday night in Toronto was the most anticipated Habs campaign in decades. Article content Article content

After a senseless parade of Ottawa players beating their faces on the fists of Jayden Struble and the Xhekaj brothers, the scoreboard read Canadiens 5, Senators 0, Anticipation 1,000.

Even the dynasty teams didn’t spark this level of excitement in October, simply because it was taken for granted that they would go deep into the playoffs and probably (ho-hum) hold another parade along the usual route.

The sorry exhibition in Quebe

See Full Page