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Chicago goaltender Corey Crawford stopped 32 of
33 shots for his first victory in his past three starts as the
Canadiens saw their two-game winning streak snapped. Crawford, a
Montreal native, improved to 6-0-2 with nine goals allowed in
eight games at Bell Centre.
Starting for the first time since a 4-3 overtime loss at Detroit
on Jan. 7, Canadiens goaltender Charlie Lindgren stopped 24 of
the 28 shots he faced. With Montreal traveling to Philadelphia
on Thursday to complete a back-to-back set, Canadiens coach
Claude Julien gave Lindgren the nod in place of Carey Price, who
was in net for the club's past three games.
Lindgren, who blanked the Blackhawks for his first career
shutout early in the 2017-18 season, lost the opportunity for a
repeat effort at 5:42 of the first period. With Lindgren
handling the puck behind the net, a crashing Caggiula forced a
turnover and slid a pass to a waiting Smith, who slapped one
home from the slot.
Smith struck again 2:50 later, redirecting a long wrist shot
from Slater Koekkoek to put Chicago ahead 2-0.
The Canadiens drew to within 2-1 just 54 seconds into the second
period. Ilya Kovalchuk found Phillip Danault in front of the
net, and the former Blackhawk beat Crawford from the circle for
his 12th goal of the season, one off his career high.
Chicago extended the lead back to two with an Alex DeBrincat
power-play goal at 11:27 of the second. Patrick Kane notched the
primary assist on the goal to record his 998th career point.
Max Domi's roughing penalty, for putting Chicago's Matthew
Highmore in a headlock and removing the Blackhawk's helmet,
prompted the power play -- and a benching from Julien for the
rest of the period.
Caggiula capped the scoring at 11:40 of the third, stripping
Jordan Weal of the puck at his own blue line and racing in for
an unassisted goal.
Chicago finished 1-for-3 on the power play compared to 0-for-3
for Montreal.
--Field Level Media
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