Toronto Maple Leafs captain John Tavares spoke Wednesday for the first time since sustaining injuries that kept him out of the remainder of the first-round series against the Montreal Canadiens in Game 1.

Tavares said he is doing well in his recovery from a concussion and knee injuries and moved on to address the team giving up a 3-1 series lead to lose in Game 7.

"It's really hard to put into context the disappointment, just the devastation of what this loss brings to the group and the challenges we have ahead of us," Tavares said. "It's been a tough go I think we all take significant responsibility."

Tavares, who joined the Maple Leafs in 2018, has been with the team for three postseasons without a series win, with the Maple Leafs franchise drought at 17 years.

"We feel like we've let our fan base down," Tavares said. "I know how much each and every person cares and how bad we want to have success and we won't stop trying to get better and finding our way through this."

This year marked the fifth straight season the Maple Leafs failed to win a playoff series, with core players Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, William Nylander and Morgan Rielly a part of all five exits.

"We're all very disappointed because we had such high faith in ourselves and confidence that we were a team that can do a lot of damage and be special and obviously it hurts that we didn't live up to our own expectations," Marner said Wednesday.

"If you could go back and change things, we all would," Rielly added. "But when we were talking to each other before games, I truly thought that we were up to the challenge. Maybe it's a good opportunity for us to look at ourselves in the mirror, ask if that was really the case."

With Monday's 3-1 loss in Game 7, the Maple Leafs dropped to 0-8 in potential series-winning games since last advancing to the second round in 2004.