MONTREAL - They say around here, hockey is a religion.
Well, folks, consider yourselves converted.
Welcome to a new type of faith. A 21st century belief. Accept the idea that the past is not always a messenger for the future, and fame is not the only measure of success.
The infidels showed up with no history behind them, but left with a world of possibility ahead.
That's right, the Lightning is moving on. Going places it has never been. The Eastern Conference final is coming, which means Tampa Bay has arrived.
This is no longer an adorable little team with its cute aspirations. It is not a product of a meaningless regular season or a lucky playoff draw.
Some quick, mini forwards, sprinkled with a handful of decent retreads. Wasn't that the perception? A half-empty building and a value-sized budget. Sound familiar? A laughable past and a shaky future. Oh, yeah?
Forget it all.
For once, the Lightning finally belongs.
For a change, Tampa Bay is not just young or inexperienced. It is not just cheap and it is not just another sunny stopover for NHL traditionalists on their annual pilgrimage to the Stanley Cup.
You know what the Lightning is today?
One of the NHL's best.
"Call us a team. We are a hockey team," said forward Tim Taylor, one of the few players in the locker room with his name on the Stanley Cup. "If you look at past winners, they always seem to play well as a team. We don't have a lot of superstars, but we have a lot of young guys coming into their own.
"We are a team. We play well as a team."
It is the best description available. For the Lightning does not intimidate opponents with one or two stars. It overwhelms them with a parade of equals.
Tampa Bay beat the Islanders in five games without Vinny Lecavalier getting a point. It swept the Canadiens in four without Martin St. Louis scoring a goal. The Lightning has 12 goals from its first line and 10 from the second.
In an era when trophies, pennants and cups are purchased through free-agent spending sprees, the Lightning is the closest thing you will find to a homegrown product.
"This is a team that has had a chance to grow together and mature together," general manager Jay Feaster said. "That's one of the most exciting things about this."
For the longest time, the reputation has remained small but, gradually, the talent has grown.
You see it when Nikolai Khabibulin saves his team's rear in consecutive games in Montreal. You see it when Lecavalier shows up when needed most. You see it when St. Louis looks like an MVP and Brad Richards plays like a postseason veteran with his 24th birthday still days away.
"There are a lot of guys who have been here through the bad times. Those are the guys who are really making a difference now," defenseman Brad Lukowich said. "Vinny, Marty, Richie. Just look at them. Those guys would have decent seasons and people would say they were nice players, but now they're giving us some real scoring punch."
For Canadiens fans, here is the best news: This was not an embarrassment.
Tampa Bay may not have a history that comes close to Montreal's, but these Canadiens do not have the skills, heart or smarts of the Lightning.
Neither, at this point, do a couple dozen other NHL teams.
"The learning curve has come a lot quicker than some people might have expected. Maybe quicker than we expected," Richards said. "I can remember back in March looking at the standings and seeing we were one point behind Detroit for the best record in the league. I thought, "Man, how did that happen?' You know we've been down for so long, this is new to a lot of us."
But for a Saturday afternoon against the Islanders in Game 2, the Lightning would be perfect in the playoffs.
If you have difficulty recognizing the level of dominance, consider no team has been better in the postseason's first two rounds. Ever. Or at least since 1987 when the league began using a best-of-seven format for the first round.
Tampa Bay has made it through the first two rounds at 8-1. No one has ever gone 8-0. Since the format changed in 1987, only seven teams have gone 8-1. Five of those went on to the Stanley Cup final. Three of them won it.
The Lightning is averaging more goals per game (2.88) and giving up fewer goals per game (1.11) than any team in the playoffs.
So does the Lightning have that certain feel that defines Stanley Cup contenders?
"A storybook (feel)? Yeah, yeah, yeah," said Taylor, who won the Cup with Detroit in 1997. "You don't want to get too far ahead of yourself because the Stanley Cup is a long way away. But we're one series away from playing the big games, and that's what our goal is."
