(Montreal) The Canadiens avoided falling into a trap on Tuesday night at the Bell Centre.
Christian Dvorak and Joel Armia each had a goal and an assist, Jake Allen stopped 20 shots and the Montreal squad defeated the Chicago Blackhawks 4-0.
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.
Martin St-Louis’ troops did what was necessary against the Blackhawks, a team far less threatening than the New York Islanders and the Edmonton Oilers. Even if the execution sometimes left something to be desired, the Canadiens’ players showed more aggressiveness than their rivals.
Justin Barron and David Savard also scored for the Canadian (23-27-4). Jonathan Drouin has accumulated three assists.
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 and 10 minutes misconduct.
The Canadian 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 on three, but Allen closed the door.
For his part, Stauber made good saves in front of Joel Armia and Nick Suzuki during breakaways.
Stauber 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 came back at 10:53, beating Stauber with a precise shot. Dvorak then added a fourth on the clock 52 seconds later. With the Habs ahead 4-0, the matter was settled.