"Make no mistake I thought the Leafs would win game 7," said Cherry. "What surprised me was the lack of interest; there was absolutely no fire."
He's not wrong. For the two biggest rivals in the sports world to meet in a playoffs for the first time in four decades, the games were surprisingly low-key. There was only one fight, which took place after Leafs' captain John Tavares was knocked out of the series, and very few scrums and big hits.
"To be up 3-1 against the worse team in the playoffs how do you lose? One difference; the Canadiens were battled hardened," Cherry continued. "Montreal had to win almost every game in the last few weeks of the seasons. The Leafs didn't have a pressure all season, built for the regular season."
Cherry also reiterated his belief that high-paid offensive talent doesn't win series in the playoffs.
"When you're getting $10 million a piece like [Auston] Matthews and [Mitch] Marner; as Jack Dempsy said to him movie star wife 'it's tough to get up at 5:00am and run in silk shorts.' But what surprised me in the 7th game there was no fire, it was like a regular season game."
Cherry pointed to a specific incident that he believes was a turning point in the series. It happened in game 1.
"One last thing, check it out, the Leafs were never the same after Matthews was ragged doll and laughed. I said many times, there is a big difference between the regular season and the playoff, the regular season means nothing."