Brendan Gallagher wore the Montreal Canadiens’ Stanley Cup Final loss on his face. There were the red welts on his cheeks, battle scars from intense confrontations with the Tampa Bay Lightning through five games. There were his red and puffy eyes, still visible under a pulled-down hat.
“Sorry,” said Gallagher, as one of the team’s most garrulous players searched for words after Montreal’s 1-0 defeat on Wednesday night resulted in a 4-1 series win for Tampa Bay. “It’s hard right now. We’ve got so many players who worked their entire career to get to this point. It’s a tough pill to swallow.”
The Canadiens were the surprise of the Stanley Cup playoffs. They rallied from a 3-1 deficit to eliminate the Toronto Maple Leafs in the opening round of the North Division playoffs. They swept the Winnipeg Jets in the second round. They sent the Vegas Golden Knights home in six games, after the Knights had eliminated the regular season’s best team, the Colorado Avalanche. All of this after Montreal finished with the 18th-best record in the NHL. No one expected much from the Canadiens — expect for the Canadiens.
