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RECAP: Blackhawks spoil Demidov’s debut, beat Montreal 4–3 in shootout

  
RECAP: Blackhawks spoil Demidov's debut, beat Montreal 4–3 in shootout
The Chicago Blackhawks defeated the Montreal Canadiens 4–3 in a shootout in Chicago's penultimate game of the season on Monday night. (Photo courtesy of the Chicago Blackhawks)

The Chicago Blackhawks looked to keep adding to their point total in the last few games of the season. Coming off a shootout loss to the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday, the team looked to put a couple of wins together while giving the young guys — including the NHL debut for Ryan Greene — a chance to play in the bigs, squaring off with the Montreal Canadiens on Monday night.

The Blackhawks’ lineup versus Montreal was as follows:

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First period

The scoring started off fairly quickly in this one. With a save on one end, the Canadiens took the puck to the offensive zone. Ivan Demidov, also in his NHL debut, took the puck around the defense and fed it out front. Alex Newhook buried the shot to put Montreal up 1–0 at the six-minute mark of the first. Five and a half minute later, Demidov would again bring the Bell Centre crowd to its feet. The Canadiens dumped in the puck and it popped out in front. Demidov was there to backhand it past Arvid Soderblom, putting the Habs up 2–0 early in this one.

With just a couple minutes left in the frame, the Blackhawks went on the power play. With some beautiful passes from Connor Bedard and Frank Nazar, the puck found its way to Tyler Bertuzzi. He put the puck over the shoulder of Sam Montembeault, pulling the Blackhawks back within one.

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The first would end with the Canadiens holding onto their 2–1 lead.

Second period

The most action in the second period was due to penalties. Between both clubs, there were five power-play opportunities in one period. The Blackhawks made the most of their second power play of the period, with Nazar taking a quick pass from Teuvo Teravainen and one-timing it past Montembeault, knotting things up at 2–2.

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The Blackhawks took a late penalty, sending the Canadiens to the power play to start the third.

Third period

The Blackhawks killed off that penalty, and traded chances early on in the period. Then, with Joe Veleno blocking a shot, Landon Slaggert took the puck up ice. He fed the puck across to Lukas Reichel, who went in on a partial breakaway. He buried his shot, putting the Blackhawks up 3–2. Blackhawks fans would be pleased to know Demidov and uber-hyped rookie defenseman Lane Hutson both badly blew coverage on the play to lead to Reichel’s break.

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Unfortunately, the Hawks would not be able to hold onto that lead. Giving the Canadiens another power play, the Habs managed to knot things up. Hutson skated in with the puck, which then went off of the stick of Cole Caufield and then Juraj Slafkovsky before bouncing off the post and Soderblom’s leg to cross the goal line, tying things up at 3–3, and sending the game to overtime.

Overtime and shootout

After neither team generated much in the overtime, with three shots total between them, the game went to the shootout. After a save on Montreal’s first attempt, Nazar was up next for the Blackhawks. He backhanded the puck over the Canadiens’ goaltender, wedging it between the net and the water bottle, which the referees somehow completely missed but later deemed it a good goal. That was the only goal in the shootout, as the Blackhawks took home the win 4–3.

Analysis

It is a lot of fun to see the young guys play for the Blackhawks. With a much more youthful roster, including Greene’s debut, the team has some energy and desire to play hard every shift. There are still some shifts where players will look out of place, or may get beaten, but overall it has been an impressive youth movement coming together the last few games of the season. These games should make fans excited for the future of Blackhawks hockey, as it looks bright with a lot of their recent draft picks debuting and looking the part.

The Blackhawks’ final game of the season is on Tuesday night in Canada’s capital against the Ottawa Senators. That game will be at 6 p.m. CDT on everyone’s favorite CHSN.

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