The Canadian’s defense continues to produce and the team continues to win. Justin Barron and David Savard scored, Jake Allen stopped 22 shots and the Montreal squad defeated the Chicago Blackhawks 4-0 on Tuesday night at the Bell Centre.
Allen shut out the opponent for the first time since Nov. 2, 2021, when he helped his team beat the Detroit Red Wings 3-0.
The Habs won a third game in a row. The blue-white-red defensive brigade provided six goals in those three games, after scoring a total of 12 in the first 51 games of the campaign.
“Before our leave [du match des étoiles], we had started talking about the offensive zone, about these details. It may be a coincidence, but it’s also something we talk about these days,” noted head coach Martin St-Louis of the defensemen’s offensive explosion.
The Canadian did what was necessary against the Blackhawks, a team much less threatening than the New York Islanders and the Edmonton Oilers. Even if the execution sometimes left something to be desired, the CH players showed more aggressiveness than their rivals.
“We improved as the game progressed,” commented St-Louis. It was not an exciting game in the first two periods. We were a little lacking in execution. In third, we showed our best face. We were very strong in the third and that’s what made the difference. »
Joel Armia and Christian Dvorak each had a goal and an assist for the Canadian (23-27-4). Jonathan Drouin, for his part, contributed by accumulating three assists.
On the other side of the rink, Jaxson Stauber made 27 saves in net for the Blackhawks (16-31-5), but suffered his first NHL loss in his fourth career outing.
Defender Chris Wideman had been inserted into the Canadiens’ lineup to relieve Arber Xhekaj, who injured his right shoulder on Saturday against the Edmonton Oilers. The duration of Xhekaj’s absence remains undetermined.
For their part, the Blackhawks lost the services of defenseman Jarred Tinordi early in the first period. Forward MacKenzie Entwistle also left the game early, retiring to the locker room midway through the third period.
The Canadiens will play their next game on Thursday, when they visit the Carolina Hurricanes.
The CH is rewarded
The start of the match was punctuated by a fight between Josh Anderson and Connor Murphy, who had just applied a hard check against Canadian captain Nick Suzuki. Anderson won the fight, but was out of favor with the referees, who gave him the total: two minutes for instigating, five minutes for fighting plus 10 minutes of misconduct.
The Habs opened the scoring after 8:38 of play, during a power play. Barron’s long shot eluded the vigilance of Stauber, who had cloudy eyesight.
Andreas Athanasiou got a good opportunity to reply before the end of the first period. He escaped after David Savard juggled the puck on the Blackhawks blue line. Allen made the save with the tip of his right pad, then Athanasiou awkwardly moved the net before pushing the puck behind the goal line with his skate. The referee quickly signaled that there was no goal on the sequence.
The second period was a bit livelier. The Blackhawks notably got 65 seconds of play at five against three, but Allen held on and resolutely closed the door to opposing players.
For his part, Stauber made good saves in front of Joel Armia and Nick Suzuki during breakaways. The Hawks goaltender then hit Suzuki again early in the third period. He was helpless, however, at 5:45, when Armia completed a fine three-on-two drive by deflecting a pass from Drouin into the goal.
Savard returned at 10:53, beating Stauber with an accurate shot. Dvorak then added a fourth on the clock 52 seconds later. With the St. Louis troops ahead 4-0, the matter was settled.
Locker Room Echoes
If Jonathan Drouin greatly contributed to the success of the evening, he is still looking for his first goal of the season. Still, he’s had some good times with 12 assists in his last 12 games.
“It always feels good to collect points,” he said. An offensive player wants points. That’s my job, it’s to help the team with assists or goals. »
Drouin also said he was aware that he is in his last year of contract and that he could change his address by the trade deadline, March 3.
“If you want a chance to win the Stanley Cup, you want teams to be attracted to you. Right now, I want to help the Canadian, but I hope it helps me at that level at the same time. »
Convinced by the performance of his teammate, David Savard underlined the recent contribution to the attack of Jonathan Drouin.
“We need a guy like him. With Cole [Caufield] on the sidelines, the attack cannot rely on Nick alone [Suzuki]. On the power play and at five on five, he is a patient guy with the puck. It’s good to see he’s being rewarded. »
Jake Allen was impressed with the effort provided by the entire team in the third period.
“The first two periods weren’t particularly exciting, but I liked how we put our foot on the accelerator in the third. Sometimes you just want to defend yourself and you shoot yourself in the foot. This time, the whole group pushed to get the next goal. »
