x

Already member? Login first!

Comments / New

Take Me Away to Paradise: Blackhawks 2, Canadiens 0

Posted on by L_B_R

The Blackhawks defeated the Montreal Canadiens 2-0 in what was easily their most boring game of the season so far.

The first period was scoreless with the only eventful sequence being Jake Allan flubbing the puck behind the net but recovering just in time to make a scrambling save on Patrick Kane.

Luckily the second period wasn’t eventless: Jonathan Toews finally scored a goal. He tipped in a Seth Jones shot on the power play to put the Blackhawks up 1-0 with 6:12 left in the period.

Toews was feeling it:

Henrik Borgström doubled the lead with eight minutes left in the third period on a good individual effort:  he stripped the puck from a Montreal player in the slot and spun around to fire the puck into the net.

The Canadiens poured on 12 shots in the third period, but Marc-André Fleury stood tall to pick up his 500th career NHL win.

After the Blackhawks win 2-0 over the Canadiens, they celebrated with their goalie in an appropriate manner:

Notes

  • Defeating the Canadiens isn’t much of a bragging right on it’s own, but one issue the Blackhawks had over the last few years was playing down to poor competition and often losing. So the fact that they’re beating the likes of the Canadiens — and the Coyotes, Canucks, and Senators — is an improvement. There’s a lot to be said about just getting the job done.
  • The Blackhawks allowed only two high-danger chances at 5-on-5 through the entirety of the game. Now, the Canadiens have really struggled to generate high-danger scoring chances over their last 10 games, but the Blackhawks took away all of their opportunities to get in close.
  • However, after the Blackhawks first goal, the Canadiens did have the puck much more than than the Blackhawks. Allowing an opposing team to have over 70-percent of the shot share when only up a single goal would have been a disaster against a team that wasn’t dying for a goal — such as the Toronto Maple Leafs, the team the Blackhawks face Saturday.
  • Speaking of offense, how great was it that Toews scored? He’s been close so many times and even had two other goals recalled after review, so it’s good that it finally happened. Hopefully Toews scoring will be like a dam breaking. The goal happening in Montreal means we get to hear Toews speak French, which is always nice. /

  • Seth Jones picked up his 20th assist of the season on Toews’ goal, which is just incredible. The Blackhawks have been inept offensively all season but Jones — along with DeBrincat and Kane — have been the only ones immune.
  • With the win tonight, Fleury became only the third goalie to reach 500 NHL wins — only Martin Brodeur and Patrick Roy having accomplished that feat before. Fleury was already a future Hall of Famer, so this is just an exclamation point on a great career. His teammates gave him a celebration shower postgame:/

  • Obviously the game tonight wasn’t exciting outside of the individual achievements, but a win is a win no matter how boring it was. /

Game Charts

Three stars

  1. Marc-André Fleury (CHI) — 69th shutout and 500th NHL win
  2. Jonathan Toews (CHI) — 1 goal
  3. Henrik Borgström (CHI) — 1 goal

What’s next

The Blackhawks travel to Toronto to face the Leafs Saturday for a 6 p.m. start.

Talking Points