WASHINGTON — Alex Ovechkin, coach Bruce Boudreau and the rest of the Presidents' Trophy-winning, high-scoring Washington Capitals were feeling pretty good about their chances in the first round of the playoffs after taking a 3-1 series lead against the Montreal Canadiens.

So much for that.

Thanks in large part to Montreal goaltender Jaroslav Halak and his shot-blocking teammates, Washington's season is over far sooner than expected.

"We all feel as low as we can possibly feel," Boudreau said, "and we'll meet in a day, and we'll discuss the should've-beens and could've-beens at that particular time."

Halak made 41 saves in his latest spectacular, acrobatic performance, the other Canadiens combined to stop a whopping 41 other shots before they reached him, and eighth-seeded Montreal held on to beat Washington 2-1 in Game 7 Wednesday night for a third consecutive victory.

"Before the series started, no one gave us a chance to win, not even one game," said Halak, who stopped 131 of Washington's 134 shots in Games 5-7. "We proved (to) them they were wrong."

Montreal will face the Penguins at 7 p.m. Friday at Mellon Arena in the next round of the NHL playoffs.

The Canadiens are the ninth No. 8 team to knock off a No. 1 in 32 matchups since the NHL went to its current playoff format in 1994 — and the first to come back to win after trailing 3-1 in the series.

All in all, it was a monumental collapse by Washington, which earned a third straight Southeast Division title, compiled the league's best record for the first time, led the NHL in goals — and appeared to have full control of this series.

"I thought we had a good chance to win the Stanley Cup this year," Boudreau said, "and I would have bet my house that they wouldn't have beaten us three games in a row and we would have only scored three goals in almost 140 shots."

Indeed, the Capitals were limited to one or zero goals only three times in their first 86 games this season, including the playoffs. And then Halak did it three times in a row.

He was yanked during Game 3 in favor of Carey Price, who also started Game 4. But Martin went back to Halak for Game 5 — a switch that worked out rather well. Halak made 37 saves in a 2-1 win in Game 5, 53 saves in a masterpiece of a 4-1 victory in Game 6, and then produced more of the same Wednesday.

"I'm in shock right now. I don't know what to say," said Ovechkin, the NHL's two-time MVP and a 50-goal scorer four of his five seasons in the league. "We know we can win, but we don't win. It's pretty hard."

Montreal defenseman Marc-Andre Bergeron scored a 4-on-3 goal in the last 30 seconds of the opening period after Norris Trophy finalist Mike Green was sent off for cross-checking. Dominic Moore made it 2-0 with 3Z\x minutes left, stealing the puck from Green before beating goalie Semyon Varlamov.

Brooks Laich cut Washington's deficit with 2:16 to go, and the Capitals then got one last power play a half-minute later, but couldn't connect. It was a fitting end to the series: Washington's league-leading power play — which converted 25 percent of its chances in the regular season — went 1 for 33 against Montreal.

Boudreau has coached in four NHL playoff series, and Ovechkin has played in four, and each went to a Game 7. They're 1-3 in those deciding contests.

"They threw everything they had at us," Montreal defenseman Josh Gorges said. "It was almost, at times, where we were just doing everything we could to survive."

Now Halak and the Canadiens take on Sidney Crosby and the defending Stanley Cup champion Penguins in the second round.

The fourth-seeded Penguins were the only higher-seeded team to win a first-round series in the Eastern Conference. Yes, that's right: All three division champions in the East are done already — Washington, New Jersey and Buffalo.

"If that goalie can play the same way as he played the last three games," Boudreau said, "anything can happen."