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Life without the ironman got underway for a rare Friday night contest as the Habs were in Chicago to take on the Blackhawks without captain Nick Suzuki. The first period was clearly an adjustment as the visitors were flat out of the gate. However, they got better throughout the entire game, leading to a dominant third period for a 4-1 win.

As everyone predicted, Jake Evans and Kirby Dach were the offensive leaders as the line was responsible for the three goals that were not scored on an empty net. A great start for a road trip through the Central Division with the next stop being the Heritage Classic in Winnipeg against the now Hellebuyck-less Jets on Sunday.  

Habs Lineup

Cole Caufield – Oliver Kapanen – Juraj Slafkovsky
Chris Kreider – Alex Newhook – Josh Anderson
Zach Bolduc – Phillip Danault – Alexandre Texier
Kirby Dach – Jake Evans – Owen Beck

Lane Hutson – Mike Matheson
Kaiden Guhle – Alex Carrier
Arber Xhekaj – Noah Dobson 

Jacob Fowler 

Game Points

– In a first period that was rather sloppy for both teams, the Canadiens overcame a slow start to play increasingly better as the period went along. They did it through some physical play as they doubled the hits from the Blackhawks in the period (10-5). After five minutes of play, shots were 4-1 Hawks, but the period ended with the score tied at one and the shots tied at nine, with three penalties called, all of which were rather unnecessary by the officials. 

– The story of the first ten minutes was Connor Bedard as he took advantage of some puck luck to open the scoring. A Juraj Slafkovsky dump-in hit the linesman and caught the Habs heading in the wrong direction. This gave Bedard the needed room on the counter as he came down and absolutely wired a shot over Jacob Fowler’s shoulder to open the scoring four minutes in. He was then called on a relatively cheap elbowing penalty and was then clearly a marked man for Montreal’s physicality throughout the period. 

– The Habs got an early power play, but it was Slafkovsky’s penalty that sent them to the penalty kill that appeared to get them going. They were aggressive to play against and actually got the best chance as Alex Newhook found Josh Anderson in the slot, but Spencer Knight made a strong save. Montreal would finally tie the game with a little over two minutes left in the period when Owen Beck won two crucial puck battles deep in the offensive zone to keep the play alive. The second time, he found Kirby Dach in the high slot who touch-passed to Jake Evans down low. Evans waited for Knight to commit himself before burying a shot low glove. 

– Chicago started the second period on a man advantage that was completely flat. Zach Bolduc made the bad situation worse by taking a penalty four minutes into the period after the Habs had some offensive zone time by the Phillip Danault line after the initial penalty and before this one. This second chance saw Ryan Donato ring one off the crossbar. Chris Kreider felt as though the Habs hadn’t played with enough fire, so he took a high-sticking penalty on the same shift Bolduc got out of the box. Turned out Kreider was right as Evans got a shorthanded chance on a two-on-one and Evans delivered again, this time with a rocket just under the bar. 

– The Canadiens were suddenly buzzing as Dach had his best sequence of the entire season which led to Beck being robbed of an open net by Patrick Kane who took two minutes for hooking for his effort. Cole Caufield hit a crossbar early on the power play, but the Habs didn’t muster much else to make the Blackhawks pay.

– With under two minutes to play in the second, Evans was once again the catalyst for offence as he won multiple battles for pucks down low and got the puck back to the point where Kaiden Guhle’s quick wrist shot had eyes as it went through two screens and two defenders to get through Knight and give the Habs a 3-1 lead heading into the third period with the shots 22-18 after two periods.

– Shots in the first half of the third period were 6-0 in favour of the visitors which was a perfect display of the dominance of the Canadiens in the first half of the period. They appeared completely content to play a boring dumping style for the period and the Blackhawks lacked discipline with the puck, so they coughed it up, being the first culprit in many Habs’ chances in the frame.

– With six minutes left in the game, the officials made an egregious call as Slafkovsky used his long reach to get in on Tyler Bertuzzi. The Hawks’ player saw he was losing the puck and decided to hang to Slafkovsky. Somehow, that was called a hold on Slafkovsky and put the Habs in an unfortunate situation. The officials must have seen the replay during the television timeout as Teuvo Teravainen was called on an equally egregious interference call on Evans. This caused a short four-on-four that was relatively uneventful.

– The shift that followed the four-on-four saw Chicago push back despite running out of time quickly as less than four minutes remained in the game. The Hawks were helped by Slafkovsky playing soft and losing puck battles all over the ice. He was ultimately saved by Cole Smith taking a puck to the face which drew a whistle.

– The Blackhawks tried to build on the shift by pulling Knight, but the Habs killed the momentum rather quickly as Mike Matheson hit the open net from behind his red line and the last two minutes were played for show as the outcome was decided. The Habs played defence for the entire two minutes, but that wasn’t such a big deal considering they still managed to outshoot the Hawks 8-4 in the period and 28-21 for the game. 

HabsWorld Habs 3 Stars

1st Star – Jake Evans 

When getting ready for this game, I looked at highlighting Evans in case of a loss because I felt like his start of the season was relatively uneventful. He ends this game with an excellent stat line, but that’s the result. His play on the penalty kill truly made the difference as it allowed the Habs to stay away from a deficit and it created the openings for him to be offensively productive. A big step up for a team that desperately needed a win in regulation. 

Stats: 2 goals, 1 assist, +4, 2 shots, 17:12 TOI 

2nd Star – Jacob Fowler 

Fowler’s calm demeanour has been a blessing for this team as Dobes looks like last season’s pre-Christmas Dobes. Fowler made some huge stops early to allow his teammates to find their legs and get their game going without Suzuki. He then made a few more for good measure when the score was 3-1 and the Hawks were looking to get back in the game. Without being flashy, he was the rock the Habs needed to feel confident and make plays. 

Stats: 20 saves on 21 shots, 0,952 SV%, 1.00 GAA, 59:22 TOI

3rd Star – Kirby Dach 

Dach’s days in Montreal might be numbered, but periods like the second are a complete display of why the Habs believed in him, why he continues to get chances and why some team might still take a chance on him. Some of the plays on the puck, around the puck, on the forecheck truly required high skill. It was easily his best period this season; now let’s just see and hope that he can build on it and deliver those types of plays with far more regularity. 

Stats: 1 assist, +1, 1 shot, 1 hit, 11:32 T.O.I.