from Pat Hickey of the Montreal Gazette,

One of the great traditions in playoff hockey is the exchange of handshakes after the final game of a series and, as the TV cameras recorded the moment after the Canadiens’ series-clinching 3-1 win Monday, you couldn’t miss Auston Matthews as he paused to exchange words of congratulations with Phil Danault and Carey Price.

The Canadiens rallied from a 3-1 deficit to the win the best-of-seven North Division semifinal in seven games and Danault and Price played the key roles in thwarting Matthews and his linemate Mitch Marner.

Matthews came into the series as the NHL’s top goal-scorer but he managed only one goal in the series and he failed to earn a point in four of the seven games. As for Marner, he’s more of a playmaker but he collected only four assists and hasn’t scored a goal in his last 18 playoff games.

“I hope everyone realizes how important Phil is and how good of a series he had,” said Brendan Gallagher. “I talked about Matthews and Marner and how difficult they are to play against, Phil had that matchup in the series. We’ve got Pricey back there and we’ve got (Jeff Petry, Shea Weber and Joel Edmundson) going up against them, but Phil is equally as big in that. I know he realizes, and I hope everyone else does, just how important he was to us in the series.”

Price was at his best in the three games in which his team faced elimination, but it was no surprise when he deflected attention from himself.

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