Bleu-blanc-rouge blood runs deep in Western Canada

When the Canadiens hit the ice for the pregame warm-up Tuesday at Rogers Arena you had to give your head a shake to remember they were in Vancouver.

Crowded around the glass were more fans wearing Canadiens jerseys than you will see in the lower bowl of the Bell Centre in Montreal for a home game.

Some might say the Toronto Maple Leafs are Canada’s team, but it’s a very special event when the Canadiens make their annual trip to Vancouver.

And Montreal’s Stanley Cup drought is only 23 years and counting, while Leafs fans have to look at black-and-white photos from their last championship parade. 1967!

Canadiens coach Claude Julien was seven years old then.

The in-game host at Rogers Arena Tuesday night greeted the Canadiens fans in the house with a “bonsoir” on the giant screen, which was greeted by loud applause, followed by another roar when he mentioned the Canadiens had won five games in a row.

The Canadiens extended their winning streak to six when Paul Byron scored 1:13 into overtime and goalie Carey Price extended his win streak to five games while being greeted with chants of “Carey! Car-ey!” after several of his 27 saves. Torrey Mitchell even ended a 39-game goalless drought when he scored in the first period.

Price grew up in Anahim Lake, B.C., and had plenty of family members in the stands.

“Parents and grandmother, uncles, aunties, the whole deal,” Price said after the game.

The Canadiens can expect a similar fan reaction when they play the Calgary Flames Thursday night at the Saddledome (9 p.m., SNE, SNW, RDS, TSN Radio 690).

Bleu-blanc-rouge blood still flows across this country.

Brandon Davidson, who grew up in Lethbridge, Alta., made his Canadiens debut Tuesday after being acquired from Edmonton last week in exchange for David Desharnais.

The blue-liner was blown away by the crowd reaction in Vancouver.

“I think the fans here kind of made it special,” said Davidson, who logged 14:40 of ice time beside Jeff Petry.

Brendan Gallagher’s family moved from Edmonton to B.C. when he was 12 and he played junior hockey for the Vancouver Giants.

“You know about it, but you kind of forget about how special it is,” Gallagher said about the fan support for the Canadiens in the city.

“We’re aware of it, but to see it first hand is pretty cool.”

The Bruins aren’t so well-loved in any visiting NHL arenas, so after 10 years behind the Boston bench Julien was very impressed by the support for his team in Vancouver.

“I’ve been here before with this team and there’s a lot of people out West that love the Montreal Canadiens,” said Julien, who is in his second stint as Habs coach.

“But tonight, to be honest with you, I was surprised to see how many red jerseys were out there. It felt a little bit like a home game.”

Said Price: “It’s always cool to come home to B.C. I love it here.”

So do the rest of the Canadiens.