Where are the words to describe this one. 
Catastrophic historic, monumental, unforgettable?
Choose one, it doesn’t really matter. Any one of them is insufficient to describe the collapse of the Toronto Maple Leafs in their round one series loss to the Montreal Canadiens.
“I don’t think there’s much to be said,” the Maple Leafs’ Auston Matthews said. “I’m not really sure how to sum it up. It’s extremely frustrating all around.”
Leading 3-1 in the series, the Maple Leafs coughed up three straight losses including Monday’s 3-1 loss on home ice.
On Monday, Carey Price made 29 saves to carry the Habs to the improbable win. Or perhaps it was just inevitable.
“This is the best team game that we’ve played this season,” Price said. “I thought we had a pretty good chance all series, and obviously when we won Game 5 to get our second win we started gathering momentum, and we just kept at it and tried to keep that momentum going tonight.”
The Maple Leafs are 0-for-the 21st century in Game 7s.
“We played Game 5, Game 6 the same way,” Canadiens head coach Dominique Ducharme said. “We had our backs to the wall, and for us tonight it was the same mindset, the same way to prepare. I felt our guys were in the right place and even more confident than before because we had just won those last two games. It was not that different of a day for us. I think our guys prepared really well and I think it showed on the ice.”
Brendan Gallagher and Corey Perry scored for Montreal in the middle frame for a 2-0 lead.
“I consider myself a little bit of an experienced guy and you seem to realize these playoff series are hard to win,” Gallagher said. “That’s a heck of a hockey team on the other side, they competed hard, pushed us to the brink and we had to find out a lot about ourselves. We’ve got nothing but respect for those guys over there. For our team to enjoy this win, continue to grow and build and now we are on to Winnipeg to hopefully do it again.”
Toronto has not won a Stanley Cup series since 2004. Seventeen years of futility pile up after a while.
Tyler Toffoli added an empty-net goal late in the third period to extend the Canadiens advantage to 3-0.
“This was huge for our whole team,” Montreal’s Phillip Danault said. “We know we can play against good players. Everyone did their job, that’s how we won, and Price was solid every single night giving us a chance to win. A lot of pride here, a lot of pride in that dressing room and we definitely want more now.”
William Nylander scored a so what goal for the Maple Leafs with 96 seconds left in the game.
“You’ve got to give credit to Montreal for the job that they did,” Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe said. “Our guys were quite devastated after the game so I chose not to speak to the group after. Really hard to put it into words. We’re obviously devastated, disappointed. Expected better of ourselves, and we think we’re capable of a lot more, not just tonight but through the whole series.”
Jack Campbell made 20 saves in the loss.
“It’s just tough,” Campbell said. “I just think of how hard our team battled and for it to end on the worst goal of my career, it happened in a Game 7. It’s not acceptable. The team counts on me to be better, and I know I can be a lot better than that.”
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