The Montreal Miracle continues. With a big assist from Toronto.

Call it destiny or, perhaps, a road trip by those ghosts that were once said to haunt the old Montreal Forum. There does seem to be some unseen hand at work as the Cinderella Canadiens pushed through to the Eastern Conference final with a stunning 5-2 victory over the Penguins on Wednesday night in Game 7 of the NHL’s second playoff round.

Mike Cammalleri, who went from playing in the GTHL as a boy to leading the NHL playoffs in goals, believes the mysterious force at work is the abundance of players in the Habs’ lineup from the Toronto area.

Cammalleri is from Richmond Hill. Dominic Moore is from Thornhill. Rookie sensation P.K. Subban is from Rexdale and Glen Metropolit is from downtown’s Regent Park.

He says they rib Montreal GM Pierre Gauthier about it all the time.

“Figure it out, the more Toronto guys you get, the better chance you’ve got to win,” said Cammalleri amid the restrained euphoria of the Montreal dressing room.

“We’ve got a little bit of that Toronto bond, that Toronto chemistry. When you grow up playing in Toronto, it’s such a competitive hockey market as youngsters, it’s almost like you’re in your own little NHL.

“There’s a certain brand of hockey Toronto guys play.”

On this night it was winning hockey. Both Cammalleri, with his 12th of the post-season, and Moore scored as the Canadiens built a 4-0 lead, survived a brief Pittsburgh rally thanks to the goaltending of Jaroslav Halak and then eased to a 5-2 victory. Montreal also got another big game from rookie defender Subban while Hal Gill, the former Maple Leaf, returned to the lineup after missing Game 6 with a lacerated calf and continued his superb work shutting down Penguins captain Sidney Crosby.

But will those connections be enough, with Montreal being the lone team based in Canada still chasing the Stanley Cup, to convince long-standing Leafs fans — and by definition Habs haters — to support the oft-resented club from La Belle Province?

“I know 20 guys that used to bleed blue and white that I grew up with that are here in Habs jerseys,” said Cammalleri, who talked with Toronto before signing with the Canadiens last as a free agent last summer.

“Slowly but surely I think we’re getting a little bit of a following in Toronto. I was a Leaf fan growing up and I can appreciate Leafs fans but maybe they can cheer for Canada’s team right now because we’re the only ones left.”

Yes, the Canadiens are Canada’s team and not just in name. This is Montreal’s first trip to a conference final since it won the Stanley Cup after a similarly unexpected miracle run in 1993, the last time a team based in Canada won an NHL championship. The Habs will play the winner of the Boston-Philadelphia series.

Whatever the various theories, Toronto-centric or other worldly, there are explanations for what happened here or really, what the Habs have been doing throughout a post-season in which they knocked off Washington, the NHL’s top regular-season team, and now the defending Stanley Cup champs, both in seven games.

The Habs’ stifling defence shut down Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, much as it handcuffed Alexander Ovechkin in the first round. Pittsburgh’s two scoring powers, looking as though they might be tired after two runs to the Cup finals — with an Olympics squeezed in there as well — each could manage only one goal in these seven games against Montreal.

“I’m not going to sit here and complain about playing Stanley Cup finals and Olympic gold-medal games,” said Crosby. “That’s a good problem to have and you have to deal with it. There are times when it is a grind and you have to deal with it. By no means is that any excuse or any reason for anything. I would never blame that on anything. Those are great things to be a part of and you have to find a way to still produce and be successful.”

It was not a good night for the Pens’ other big stars. Goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury was pulled early in the second period after getting shredded for four goals on 13 shots. And Sergei Gonchar had a horrible outing in his own end.

The brilliance of Halak has also been a constant and he made two eye-popping saves on Crosby and Malkin early in the third with Pittsburgh pressing.

“It’s rewarding to keep (Crosby) off the scoreboard. I thank Jaro every day,” said Gill, the Pittsburgh captain’s blanket thoughout this series.

This game, really, was over five minutes into the second with Montreal holding a 4-0 lead. Even the high-flying Penguins weren’t going to put five past Halak.

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“No explanation,” for the start, said Pittburgh’s Max Talbot. “It stings a lot. It’s pretty tough. You come into this game you’re not thinking about that. You’re not thinking about losing this game. It’s something tough to take right now. It’s never fun to lose.”

But it is fun to win. Just ask Cammalleri.

“I’m pretty happy right now, It’s a pretty special feeling,” he said. “I can’t even imagine what Ste. Catherine Street (in downtown Montreal) looks like right now. I’m excited we can make so many people happy.”

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