Blackhawks take conference lead with win over Habs

[March 15, 2017]  MONTREAL -- Patrick Kane is working his way toward another Art Ross Trophy.

The Chicago winger scored a goal and two assists to lift the Blackhawks to a 4-2 win over the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday night at the Bell Centre. He now has 76 points on the season as he keeps pace with Edmonton's Connor McDavid for the NHL scoring race.

With the win, Chicago overtook the Minnesota Wild for first in the Central Division and first overall in the Western Conference.

"That was a big win for us," said goaltender and Montreal native Corey Crawford, who who made 40 saves while improving to 7-0-2 for his career against his hometown team. "It got a little tight there at the end, a little exciting but a big two points for us against a good team."

The Blackhawks built up a 3-0 lead before the Canadiens came close in the third.

"We're all trying hard, we're all doing the right thing; it's just a matter of getting one," said Paul Byron, who connected for Montreal (39-23-8) along with Shea Weber. "When we do, it seems like the whole team feeds off it and (the goals) come after that. We've just got to focus on getting one earlier."

Jonathan Toews, Johnny Oduya and Artemi Panarin also scored for the Blackhawks (44-20-5).

The Canadiens were in control in the opening period, outshooting the Blackhawks 4-1 and 7-2 through the first half but couldn't get one by Crawford.

Kane opened the scoring with his 16th goal in 17 games since Feb. 1. Artem Anisimov beat out Alexei Emelin before feeding Kane, who fired a wrister from the right circle that beat Price stick side at 12:23 of the first period.

"One thing we can't criticize is the team's effort tonight," Canadiens coach Claude Julien said. "A good effort, especially when you're coming off a road trip like we were on. The first game back is always tough. We were facing one of the best teams in the league and I found our effort was there. We didn't give up.

"The execution wasn't on point," he continued. "We had a lot of shots on goal but the passes were often in skates and stuff like that. ... Chicago's execution was better than ours tonight."

While up on the scoreboard after one, Chicago found itself down a player when Anisimov hobbled off at the end of the period after getting tangled up with Alexander Radulov. Anisimov did not return. Coach Joel Quenneville said his lower-body injury is "not serious" and is officially day-to-day.

Oduya doubled the Blackhawks' lead at 10:49 of the second period. After Jeff Petry blocked a shot on a two-on-one, Oduya picked up the loose puck at the blue line and blasted a shot that appeared to catch Price by surprise.

Blackhawks defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson (4) clears the puck away from Montreal Canadiens forward Artturi Lehkonen (62) during the second period at the Bell Centre. Mandatory Credit: Eric Bolte-USA TODAY Sports

Panarin made it 3-0 for the visitors 47 seconds into the third period. Nick Schmaltz, replacing Anisimov on the line, found Panarin alone in the slot and Panarin skated in alone on Price.

"I'm very comfortable with him in the middle with those two guys," Quenneville said of Schmaltz. "It seems like both times he's stepped in with them in the middle of a game, looks like he belongs there. It's been a good fit between the three of them."

Byron got Montreal on the board with his fifth goal in the past six games when he took a shot-pass feed from Brendan Gallagher at 12:42. Weber got the crowd roaring less than four minutes later when he brought the Canadiens to within one when he blasted one from the point.

"As a team, we've all got to step up and start contributing goals, and we can see when we score the first goal how dominant we can be offensively," Byron said. "It's just that getting that first goal is taking us too long. We can't wait until the third period to get going. We need to go to the blue paint, get some traffic in front of the net because you're not always going to score pretty goals, especially at this time of the year."

Toews capped the scoring with an empty-net goal.

Carey Price, playing in his 500th NHL game, stopped 20 shots for the Canadiens.

NOTES: Montreal D Brandon Davidson returned to the lineup and D Nathan Beaulieu was a healthy scratch along with RW Michael McCarron, LW Andreas Martinsen and D Nikita Nesterov. ... Chicago scratched C Andrew Desjardins, C John Hayden, RW Tomas Jurco, D Michal Roszival and D Michal Kempny. ... Montreal D Andrei Markov played in his 979th career NHL game, moving him past Maurice Richard for sixth place on the franchise's career games played list. ... Before the game, the Canadiens honored the CWHL's Les Canadiennes, Montreal's professional women's hockey team, for winning the Clarkson Cup on Sunday, March 5.

[© 2017 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]

Copyright 2017 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.