Toronto Maple Leafs eliminated from the NHL playoffs after 3-1 loss to Montreal in Game 7
The Canadiens beat the odds and are off to the second round of the playoffs.
The Maple Leafs, meanwhile, are facing more uncomfortable questions following another post-season disaster.
Carey Price made 29 saves as Montreal came back from a 3-1 series deficit to beat Toronto 3-1 on Monday in Game 7 of a roller-coaster Original Six matchup.
Brendan Gallagher, Corey Perry and Tyler Toffoli, into an empty net, scored for the Canadiens. The visitors won a series after trailing 3-1 for the third time in franchise history. Eric Staal had two assists.
The Leafs, who haven't advanced in the post-season since 2004 and won three of the first four games against the Canadiens before Montreal took two straight in overtime to force the all-or-nothing showdown, got a late goal from William Nylander.
Jack Campbell stopped 20 shots.
Montreal, which moved onto the second round for the first time since 2015, will take on Winnipeg after the Jets registered a surprising sweep of Connor McDavid's Edmonton Oilers in the Canadian-based North Division's other series. Game 1 goes Wednesday at Bell MTS Place in the Manitoba capital.
The Leafs, who never led on the scoreboard after going up 3-1 in the series, hosted 550 fully vaccinated health-care workers inside the 19,800-seat Scotiabank Arena to watch Game 7 after getting a thumbs up from the provincial government. The Canadiens welcomed 2,500 ticket-buying fans at Game 6 on Saturday at the Bell Centre -- the first NHL crowd in this country since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020.
Following a tentative first period, Montreal opened the scoring at 3:02 of the second on a sequence that started with a turnover by Mitch Marner at the offensive blue line. The Canadiens headed the other way, and Gallagher snapped his first goal since April 1 after missing six weeks with a broken thumb on a shot Campbell will want back through the five-hole.
The Leafs nearly tied it moments later when Price stopped Zach Hyman in tight before Auston Matthews ripped a shot off the post on a 2-on-1.
But the visitors would go up by two at 15:25 when Nick Suzuki's shot on a power play went off Perry in front for the veteran winger's second in as many games as Montreal struck on the man advantage for the third time in two contests after going 0 for 15 to start the series.
The Leafs, who finished 18 points ahead of the Canadiens in this year's 56-game campaign and haven't won the Stanley Cup since 1967, got a power play to start the third, but Price was there to deny Hyman on a redirect at the side of the goal.
Toronto pushed as the period wore on, but Price there to again foil Hyman off a behind-the-back pass from Matthews.
The Montreal goaltender was there again to thwart both Nylander and Matthews with massive stops on another Toronto man advantage with under nine minutes to go in regulation.
The home side pulled Campbell with 3:35 left, but a team that battled back from two-goal deficits in both Games 5 and 6 saw their hopes dashed when Toffoli scored into an empty net just over a minute later.
Nylander added team-high fifth of the series with 1:36, but Matthews and Marner were held to one total in seven games.
The Leafs lost a Game 7 on home ice for just the second time in their history -- Wayne Gretzky's 1993 Los Angeles Kings were the other club to pull off the feat -- as Toronto fell to 11-2 all-time when leading a series 3-1.
Already without captain John Tavares (concussion, knee), the Leafs also had to do without defenceman Jake Muzzin (suspected groin injury) after he left Saturday's first period in obvious distress.
The Canadiens, who hadn't faced the Leafs in the playoffs since 1979, lost the only other Game 7 between the teams in 1964 when Dave Keon's hat trick led Toronto to a 3-1 victory at the Montreal Forum.
The Leafs' last series win, and the last Game 7 played between Canadian teams, was 17 years ago -- 6,250 days to be exact -- against Ottawa in the Eastern Conference quarterfinals.
Toronto missed the playoffs seven straight years coming out of the 2004-05 lockout. The Leafs returned to the post-season in 2012-13 and led the Boston Bruins 4-1 in the third period of Game 7 that spring before stunning collapse.
There would be three more springs without playoff hockey to follow -- Toronto bottomed out in 2015-16, but won the draft lottery and selected Matthews with the No. 1 pick -- before a return in 2016-17. The young Leafs showed well in a hard-fought series against the Washington Capitals, but expectations were much higher the next two years when Toronto again lost to Boston in crushing seven-game defeats.
The Leafs were also eliminated from last summer's post-season bubble by the Columbus Blue Jackets in a five-game series that went the distance after the NHL schedule was postponed by the pandemic.
Montreal took Game 1 of this series 2-1 on a night where Tavares was stretchered off the ice following a scary collision before being outscored 11-2 in losing the next three to fall behind Toronto 3-1, but fought back with a 4-3 overtime victory in Game 5 and a 3-2 OT decision 48 hours later.
The Leafs have now lost seven straight post-season series, and dropped eight straight contests where it could have eliminated an opponent.
That includes seven since 2018 with the core of Matthews, Marner and Nylander.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 31, 2021.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'A beautiful soul': Funeral held for baby boy killed in wrong-way crash on Highway 401
A funeral was held on Wednesday for a three-month-old boy who died after being involved in a wrong-way crash on Highway 401 in Whitby last week.
'Sophisticated' cyberattacks detected on B.C. government networks, premier says
There has been a "sophisticated" cybersecurity breach detected on B.C. government networks, Premier David Eby confirmed Wednesday evening.
Police handcuff man trying to enter Drake's Toronto mansion
Toronto police say a man was taken into custody outside Drake's Bridle Path mansion Wednesday afternoon after he tried to gain access to the residence.
Biden says he will stop sending bombs and artillery shells to Israel if they launch major invasion of Rafah
U.S. President Joe Biden said for the first time Wednesday he would halt shipments of American weapons to Israel, which he acknowledged have been used to kill civilians in Gaza, if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu orders a major invasion of the city of Rafah.
Rookie goalie Arturs Silovs to start for Canucks in Game 1 vs. Oilers
Rookie goalie Arturs Silovs will start in net for the Canucks as Vancouver kicks off a second-round series against the Edmonton Oilers Wednesday night.
Nijjar murder suspect says he had Canadian study permit in immigration firm's video
One of the Indian nationals accused of murdering British Columbia Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar says in a social media video that he received a Canadian study permit with the help of an Indian immigration consultancy.
Pfizer agrees to settle more than 10K lawsuits over Zantac cancer risk: Bloomberg News
Pfizer has agreed to settle more than 10,000 lawsuits about cancer risks related to the now discontinued heartburn drug Zantac, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the deal.
Quebec premier defends new museum on Quebecois nation after Indigenous criticism
Quebec Premier Francois Legault is defending his comments about a new history museum after he was accused by a prominent First Nations group of trying to erase their history.
U.S. presidential candidate RFK Jr. had a brain worm, has recovered, campaign says
Independent U.S. presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. had a parasite in his brain more than a decade ago, but has fully recovered, his campaign said, after the New York Times reported about the ailment.