Canadiens 4, Maple Leafs 1
TORONTO - Andrei Markov and Brendan Gallagher scored five minutes apart during the second period to boost the Montreal Canadiens to a 4-1 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs before a season-high crowd of 19,730 at Air Canada Centre.
Lars Eller and Tomas Plekanec also scored for Montreal. Eller added two assists.
Phil Kessel scored Toronto's goal in the final game of the season for two teams that could meet in the first round of the playoffs.
The Maple Leafs had only one shot on goal in the second period. Peter Budaj stopped all but one of Toronto's 17 shots in the game. He was given the start with No. 1 goaltender Carey Price given a rest.
The Leafs had only five shots on seven power-play opportunities in an uninspired effort that made the Canadiens' task easy.
Toronto starting goalie James Reimer was lifted for Ben Scrivens after Plekanec scored his 14th goal of the season at 2:25 of the third period. Reimer allowed four goals on 23 shots. Ben Scrivens took over from him and stopped all five shots he faced.
Toronto forward Frazer McLaren was given a game misconduct on top of a 10-minute misconduct and charging and roughing minors at 3:05 of the third period.
Markov's 10th goal of the season put the Habs into a 2-1 lead at 4:19 of the second period. Eller won the faceoff in the Leafs zone and the puck went to Markov near the left boards. His 65-foot wrist shot beat Reimer.
The Habs made it 3-1 on Gallagher's 15th goal of the season at 9:18 of the second period on a 30-foot snap shot after he won a race for the puck in the Leafs' end.
Kessel scored his 20th goal of the season on a 44-foot wrist shot during the power play at 15:36 of the first period after Markov was penalized for roughing Leo Komarov at 14:57.
But the Canadiens answered promptly with Eller's eighth goal of the season on a 10-foot backhand set up by Gallagher at 18:01 with each team at full strength.
NOTES: Maple Leafs center Tyler Bozak did not play after not taking part in the team skate on Saturday. He suffered an apparent shoulder injury in Wednesday's loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning. ... The teams split their first two games at ACC with the Leafs winning 5-1 on April 13 and the Habs winning 5-2 on Feb. 27. Toronto won both games in Montreal 2-1 on Jan. 19 and 6-0 on Feb. 9. ... Canadiens' defenseman Tomas Kaberle and forward Colby Armstrong previously played for the Leafs. Both were scratched from Saturday's game. Toronto defenseman Ryan O'Byrne, who was a scratch from the game, and forward Mikhail Grabovski formerly played for the Habs.
