Canadiens are heading to the second round of the NHL playoffs after going through a rebuild

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Martin St. Louis pounded his chest in the locker room, Jakub Dobes received a shaving cream pie in the face from his fellow goalies and the Montreal Canadiens celebrated a long-awaited series victory.

“We’re not leaving,” St. Louis told his players, quoting Leonardo DiCaprio from “The Wolf of Wall Street" movie.

Indeed, the Canadiens are heading to Buffalo for a second-round series after eliminating the Tampa Bay Lightning with a 2-1 victory in Game 7 on Sunday night.

It’s the first time Montreal has advanced since losing the Stanley Cup Finals to Tampa Bay in 2021. Game 1 against the Sabres is Wednesday night in Buffalo.

Before shifting attention to the next series, the Canadiens enjoyed their victory following a hard-fought, evenly-contested series that featured seven games decided by one goal and four that went to overtime.

“I feel like you can’t take the player out of me, right?” St. Louis said about his triumphant speech. “I don’t try to be in the locker room a lot. To me, this is their space. It’s their team. It’s not my team. I try and steer them. But every now and then I have my moment with them. I try and pick my spot and a night like tonight, I wanted to be with them and we had some fun.”

Despite being held to just nine shots — the Canadiens are the first team to win a playoff game with fewer than 10 shots on goal since shots were first tracked in the 1959-60 season — Montreal found a way to beat a veteran team that has plenty of experience in big games.

The Canadiens got a couple lucky bounces on goals by Nick Suzuki and Alex Newhook. But they would be going home if not for Dobes’ heroics. The rookie goaltender stopped 28 shots and outplayed Andrei Vasilevskiy over the seven games.

“Many times in the season the guys bailed me out and helped me out and I tried to do the same and vice versa,” Dobes said. “Sometimes they don’t play good. Sometimes I don’t play good. They always got my back. I always got theirs. That’s our mentality. We have a really good group, good leaders, good locker room. This wasn’t anything special. I was just trying to keep the guys in it. I was just waiting for them to get going and that’s exactly what happened.”

As for the shaving cream to the face, Dobes said: “Can’t wait for next practice. I’ll have something prepared.”

The Canadiens moved on because they played like the looser team. While the Lightning seemed tight at times — they lost three home games — upstart Montreal is having fun and feeding off their Hockey Hall of Fame coach.

The Canadiens are the only team from Canada still playing in the postseason after Ottawa and Edmonton were already knocked out.

It’s been a long road back here. After losing to the Lightning in the Cup Final, the Canadiens were last in the NHL in 2021-22. They were bottom five in the league the next two seasons before St. Louis led to the playoffs last season only to exit in the first round.

With Suzuki, Juraj Slafkovsky and Dobes leading the way, the Canadiens have a shot against Buffalo. The Sabres were the NHL’s best team after Jan. 1 and snapped a 14-year playoff drought with 109 points this season, only three more than Montreal.

“After the Cup Final, there was a lot of tough times and a lot of guys left,” Suzuki said. “We started this rebuild and slowly but surely, drafted some really good players and have an amazing coach. It’s probably faster than a lot of people expected but when you get great players together with a great system and great leadership, things can turn quickly.”

AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

Montréal Canadiens center Phillip Danault (24) leads the team through the handshake line after the Canadiens defeated the Lightning in Game 7 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup first-round playoff series, Sunday, May 3, 2026, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

Montréal Canadiens center Alex Newhook (15) is mobbed by teammates, including Nick Suzuki (14) after scoring against the Tampa Bay Lightning during the third period in Game 7 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup first-round playoff series, Sunday, May 3, 2026, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

Montréal Canadiens goaltender Jakub Dobes talks to Tampa Bay Lightning head coach Jon Cooper after the Canadiens defeated the Lightning in Game 7 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup first-round playoff series, Sunday, May 3, 2026, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

Montréal Canadiens head coach Martin St. Louis, right, congratulates Tampa Bay Lightning head coach Jon Cooper after the Canadiens defeated the Lightning in Game 7 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup first-round playoff series, Sunday, May 3, 2026, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

NEW YORK & MIAMI--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 4, 2026--

TRAY, a global leader in cloud-native enterprise-class POS systems, and Maple, the leading voice AI platform for restaurants, today announced a joint integration that brings 24/7 AI-powered phone ordering to multi-unit restaurant brands running on TRAY's platform.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260504039708/en/

More than 40% of restaurant phone calls go unanswered during peak hours. For a single location, that can translate to over $30,000 in unrealized phone orders each year. Across an enterprise portfolio of dozens or hundreds of locations, the losses run into the tens of millions.

"We're always looking for technology partners that help our restaurant clients run better and grow faster," said Peter Kellis, CEO of TRAY. "Maple's AI phone ordering is a natural fit for our platform as it gives operators a way to capture every call and turn it into revenue. That's the kind of innovation our enterprise clients are asking for."

"When a restaurant group is operating at scale, every unanswered call is a missed ticket," said Aidan Chau, CEO and Founder of Maple. "This integration with TRAY lets us put AI phone ordering into some of the largest restaurant brands in the country. It deploys in minutes and works from day one."

Built for Speed Across Every Location

Maple connects directly to TRAY's POS and pulls menu data automatically, including items, modifiers, pricing, and availability. Restaurants can go live in minutes with accurate order taking on the first call.

Key capabilities include:

Maple also fields reservations, catering inquiries, hours, directions, and frequently asked questions, so callers always reach a helpful, knowledgeable voice.

The Missed-Call Problem at Scale

American restaurants miss roughly one in three incoming calls during service hours. Industrywide, that adds up to billions in lost revenue each year. Staffing alone has proven difficult to solve the problem, especially for brands managing high call volume across many locations. The TRAY and Maple integration captures that revenue and lets front-of-house teams stay focused on the guests in front of them.

Since launching in December 2023, Maple has answered over 1 million calls for restaurants and resolves 96% of them with zero human intervention.

Availability

The integration is available now to all TRAY merchants in the United States. Restaurants can activate the service through their TRAY representative or by visiting maple.inc.

About TRAY

TRAY is a leading provider of cloud-native enterprise-class POS systems for the hospitality industry. The company's mission is to empower businesses to operate more efficiently, increase revenue, and provide a better experience for their customers. TRAY's advanced POS system is used by hospitality businesses of all sizes and types, including full service and quick service restaurants and family entertainment centers. For more information on TRAY and its POS solutions, please visit tray.com.

About Maple

Maple, the leading Voice AI platform for restaurants, provides 24/7 phone answering for restaurants and local businesses, handling orders, reservations, and delivery inquiries. A graduate of Amazon's AWS Generative AI Accelerator, Maple has scaled to serve over 2,500 merchants since launching in December 2023. The platform integrates with major POS systems and partners with leading restaurant technology platforms. Headquartered in New York City, Maple is on a mission to ensure no restaurant ever misses a customer call again. For more information, visit maple.inc.

Maple x TRAY. AI phone ordering, now live for TRAY restaurants. Every call answered, every order in the POS.