TORONTO (AP) — Carey Price made 29 saves, and the Montreal Canadiens advanced to the second round by beating the Toronto Maple Leafs, 3-1, in Game 7 on Monday night.
Brendan Gallagher, Corey Perry and Tyler Toffoli scored for the Canadiens, who stormed back from a 3-1 deficit for the third time in franchise history to win a series. Eric Staal had two assists for Montreal, which advanced to the second round for the first time since 2015.
The Canadiens will take on Winnipeg after the Jets swept Edmonton in the Canadian-based North Division’s other series. Game 1 is Wednesday at Winnipeg.
William Nylander had a late goal, and Jack Campbell stopped 20 shots for Toronto, which hasn’t advanced in the postseason since 2004. The Maple Leafs appeared in control of this series while taking a 3-1 lead, but Montreal forced a deciding Game 7 by winning two in a row in overtime.
Montreal opened the scoring at 3 minutes, 2 seconds 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 scored his first goal since April 1 after missing six weeks with a broken thumb.
The Maple 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 Canadiens went up by two at 15:25 when Nick Suzuki’s shot on a power play went off Perry in front for his second goal in as many games. It was Montreal’s third goal with the man advantage in two games after going 0 for 15 to start the series.
The Leafs, who finished 18 points ahead of the Canadiens in the regular season and haven’t won the Stanley Cup since 1967, got a power play to start the third. But Price denied Hyman on a redirect at the side of the goal.
Toronto pulled Campbell with 3:35 left, but Toffoli scored into an empty net just over a minute later.
Nylander added team-high fifth of the series with 1:36 to end Price’s shutout bid.
