from Lance Hornby of the Toronto Sun,

Want to attend the game between the Maple Leafs and Canadiens on Saturday night?

Drive to Montreal, convince Quebec border guards it’s essential travel, and then maybe sell your car once there to pay for some of the coveted 2,500 tickets for the first NHL game in Canada with fans in regular seats since the pandemic began 14 months ago.

Enough die-hards in Leafs Nation have the coin to make that happen. Hey, it’s merely a do-or-die game in the two teams’ first playoff meeting in 42 years, forced by the Habs’ season-saving 4-3 overtime win in Toronto on Thursday. Those people will pay for a chance to finally see a game live again, in hopes of witnessing their side win its first series in 17 years, having never beaten the Habs in the playoffs since 1967 and only eliminating their arch-rivals in their barn four times in 103 years.

As of Friday, the price for a single seat on Ticketmaster was in the $8,000 range with service charges. When the Canadiens first put the seats up as Quebec partially lifted its public events ban, they had three modest price ranges, $190, $260 and $330. The club let a few health care workers watch Games 3 and 4 from private boxes.

continued