Babcock and Montgomery spoke before Game 6 of the series after Boston missed on their first chance to close things out.

BOSTON — Fans of the Toronto Maple Leafs are waking up on Sunday to the reality that their team came up short in their bid to advance to the second round of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The Bruins defeated the Maple Leafs 2-1 in overtime of Game 7 and it was Boston who exorcised their own demons by avoiding a scenario in which they would have become the first club in the three major North American sports leagues (NHL, NBA, MLB) to squander consecutive 3-1 lead in back-to-back series.

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Boston had a 3-1 series lead against the Florida Panthers in the first round of the 2023 Stanley Cup playoffs before a massive upset that saw Florida win three consecutive games to upset Boston. The Bruins had another 3-1 series lead before losing to the Maple Leafs in Games 5 and 6 before finally prevailing on Saturday.

The loss is heartbreaking enough for Leafs fans but it certainly throws some salt in the wounds to find out that former Toronto bench boss Mike Babcock actually helped Montgomery along the way after the Bruins failed to close things out in Game 5.

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"I had a real good discussion with Mike Babcock before Game 6 about owning the moment and how to push your team through," Montgomery said after the game.

Babcock served as Maple Leafs head coach from May 15, 2015 to November 19, 2019, He was behind Toronto's bench for Toronto's Game 7 first-round losses to the Bruins in 2018 and 2019.

Despite signing a reported eight-year, $50 million contract to coach Toronto, the Leafs fired Babcock and replaced him with current head coach Sheldon Keefe. Once Babcock's Toronto contract expired last summer, he signed a reported two-year, $8 million deal to coach the Columbus Blue Jackets. However, the team and coach parted ways once issues began to surface from players complaining about Babcock's methods, which included looking through players' cell phone pictures.

Montgomery said he also received text messages from Tampa Bay Lightning head coach Jon Cooper, but Babcock having any sort of hand in helping Boston eliminate Toronto is certainly something that may sting for fans of the Leafs.

Before joining Toronto, Babcock won a Stanley Cup with the Detroit Red Wings in 2008.

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