HABS’ COMEBACK FALLS SHORT
Chicago secures 4-2 Bell Centre win
The bottom line: Châteauguay’s Corey Crawford continued his mastery of the Canadiens as he led the Chicago Blackhawks to a 4-2 win over Montreal Tuesday night at the Bell Centre. Crawford stopped 40 shots, including a Shea Weber slapshot that struck him square in the mask in the second period, to run his career record against the Canadiens to 7-0-2. Crawford lost his shutout when Paul Byron scored on a scramble in front of the net at 12:42 of the third period and Shea Weber made the final score close when he scored on a shot from the point at 16:32. It was the 19th goal of the season for Byron and 16th for Weber. The Canadiens are 8-3-0 in their last 11 games, but they have had problems winning in front of the Bell Centre faithful. Montreal has a 2-5-1 record in its last eight home games and has scored only 10 goals in that span while being shut out twice.
Kane opens scoring: The Canadiens outshot the Blackhawks 11-4 in the first period, but Chicago took a 1-0 lead on Patrick Kane’s 31st goal of the season at 12:23. Artem Anisimov lured Alexei Emelin outside and then passed to Kane
as he moved through the middle. Kane beat Carey Price with a shot that caromed off the far post. Anisimov injured his left knee when he was checked in the corner by Alexander Radulov as time ran out in the period.
Oduya delivers: Chicago defenceman Johnny Oduya threaded a shot from the point past three Montreal players to beat Price on the glove side to give the Blackhawks a 2-0 lead at 10:49 of the second period. Emelin missed his check, but did manage to take teammate Brendan Gallagher out of the play. The Canadiens got lucky 12 seconds later when Richard Panik tried to jam a puck past Price, who made a leg save. Panik’s momentum pushed the net off its moorings and the puck crossed the goal-line, but the officials ruled that the play had been stopped before the puck crossed the line.
Panarin supplies winner: Artemi Panarin provided the Blackhawks with what proved to be the winning goal at the 47-second mark of the third period. Panarin went in alone for his 23rd goal of the season after taking a pass from Nick Schmaltz. Did we mention that Emelin was nowhere to be seen on the play and finished the night minus-3? Jonathan Toews completed the scoring with an empty-netter.
Making changes: Michael McCarron was a healthy scratch as Tomas Plekanec returned to the lineup after missing three games with an upper-body injury. Plekanec centred the third line with Andrew Shaw and Artturi Lehkonen. On defence, Brandon Davidson made his second appearance as a Canadien — and first at the Bell Centre. He played on the third pairing with Jordie Benn, while Nathan Beaulieu was a healthy scratch for the first time this season.
Capital showdown: The Canadiens are off until the weekend when they play back-to-back games against the Ottawa Senators with first place in the Atlantic Division on the line. The Canadiens travel to Ottawa on Saturday (7 p.m., Sportsnet, TVA Sports, TSN-690 Radio) with the return match at the Bell Centre Sunday (7:30 p.m., Sportsnet, RDS, TSN-690 Radio).