"They're playing at a really high level right now," Wheeler said. "You just have to give them all the credit. With the goaltending they have, any breakdowns, he's putting out those fires. And we just couldn't get the first goal. We just couldn't do it all series. That plays right into their hands.
"If we could have just found a way to get that first goal it could be a different series, but we didn't. You just have to give them so much credit. They're playing unbelievable right now."
RELATED: [Complete Canadiens vs. Jets series coverage]
The Canadiens never trailed in the series.
Jets coach Paul Maurice said the way the four games went, including being outshot 42-16 in Game 4 at Bell Centre in Montreal, the result was clear.
"They were good and they were better than we were in this series and they deserved to win," he said.
The Jets played Games 2-4 without top center Mark Scheifele, who was suspended for four games by the NHL Department of Player Safety for charging Montreal forward Jake Evans late in Game 1. They scored three goals in the three games, one from a forward, Adam Lowry in Game 3.
"You play a series where clearly you're having a hard time finding the net and you take your best offensive player out, and just as importantly what it leaves you with then is the challenge," Maurice said.
Scheifele was ninth in the NHL with 63 points (21 goals, 42 assists) in 56 regular-season games, and his impact on the Jets is far-reaching, according to Wheeler.
"I mean, he's a top-10 player in the NHL," Wheeler said. "I'm not saying we would win the series in five games because he was in the lineup, but it just changes our team. He makes me better. He makes Kyle [Connor] better. As a line, we're able to do some things that are pretty dynamic, and from there the matchup just works a lot better for us because I think then we can rely on our depth a lot more. We can rely on Adam Lowry's line coming out third, and they dominate in that three hole. It just makes our team look a lot different. So it's a [darn] shame."