Carey Price on Monday stopped 30 shots as the Montreal Canadiens beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-1 in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs first round, storming back to engineer one of the biggest comebacks in recent NHL history.
Corey Perry’s power-play goal off a deflection in the second period proved to be the winner as the Canadiens won largely thanks to Price’s brilliant netminding.
“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.”
Photo: AFP
Price made a clutch save off Toronto’s Zach Hyman with 2 minutes, 46 seconds left in the third to preserve the two-goal lead.
Just one minute later, Tyler Toffoli scored into an empty Toronto net to make it 3-0 and seal the win for the Habs, who set up Game 7 with successive overtime wins in games 5 and 6.
The Canadiens advance to the second round to face the Winnipeg Jets.
There were no fans for Game 7 at Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena because of pandemic restrictions still in effect in Canada.
Brendan Gallagher opened the scoring for visiting Montreal early in the second period, firing a shot through the legs of Maple Leaf netminder Jack Campbell.
“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.”
The Leafs finally got on the scoreboard when William Nylander scored with 1 minute, 36 seconds left in the third, but it was too little, too late for Toronto. The Leafs were the heavy favorites coming into the series, which was the first between the two storied Original Six rivals since 1979.
This marked just the second Game 7 between Montreal and Toronto, with the only other taking place in 1964.
All the pressure was on the Maple Leafs, who finished first in the North Division compared with the Habs, who placed fourth.
This latest playoff collapse is going to lead to plenty of soul searching for Toronto, who have not won a Stanley Cup since 1967, the longest drought of any NHL team.
In Monday’s other game, Casey Cizikas capitalized on a giveaway and scored on a breakaway 14 minutes, 48 seconds into overtime to lift the visiting New York Islanders over the Boston Bruins 4-3 in Game 2 of their East Division second-round series.
Bruins defenseman Jeremy Lauzon attempted to toss the puck into the Islanders’ zone, but it bounced off teammate Charlie Coyle’s skate to set up Cizikas’ breakaway. Cizikas beat Boston goalie Tuukka Rask high stick side to seal the win.
Additional reporting by Reuters
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