The Montreal Canadiens did a good job defending against Connor Bedard and seven power plays by the Chicago Blackhawks enroute to their first win.

GAME RECAP | Chicago Blackhawks vs Montreal Canadiens

Canadiens Lineup

Forwards
22 Cole Caufield 14 Nick Suzuki 17 Josh Anderson
15 Alex Newhook 77 Kirby Dach 20 Juraj Slafkovsky
70 Tanner Pearson 91 Sean Monahan 11 Brendan Gallagher
49 Rafael Harvey-Pinard 71 Jake Evans 56 Jesse Ylonen

Defensemen
8 Mike Matheson 58 David Savard
59 Kaiden Guhle 52 Johnathan Kovacevic
72 Arber Xhekaj 54 Jordan Harris

Goaltenders

Starter: 35 Sam Montembeault
Alternate: 34 Jake Allen

Out of the lineup

Scratches: Michael Pezzetta, Justin Barron, Cayden Primeau

Injuries: Christian Dvorak (lower body), Carey Price (lower body), Chris Wideman (upper body)

Game Report

On a night when Bell Centre fans forgot their manners and the game presentation staff forgot how to stage an opening ceremony, the Canadiens played one strong  period that would prove to be enough for their first victory of the season.

After an evenly-played opening frame, Cole Caufield opened the scoring before the four minute mark of the second. Tanner Pearson followed suit four minutes later recording his first goal as a Canadien. Before the period was out Sean Monahan scored a shorthanded goal giving Montreal a 3-0 lead before the second intermission.

Chicago forward Tyler Johnson scored his first of the season just 35 seconds into the third period. Johnson scored again with 1:21 remaining making the Bell Centre faithful more than a little tense. With just 10 seconds to go, Blackhawks defenseman Seth Jones cleanly beat Sam Montembeault but the puck rang off the iron. And the Habs celebrated a 3-2 win.

Discipline was an issue for the Canadiens on this night as they handed seven power play opportunities to the Blackhawks. Montreal was 0-for-2 with the man advantage.

Kirby Dach left the game in the first period after just four shifts and did not return after taking a hard hit from former Canadien Jared Tinordi. The check almost put Dach into the visitor's bench. The team announced that Dach was out with a lower body injury. He will be evaluated on Sunday.

Connor Bedard was limited to one assist in his 23 minutes of ice-time.

Game Statistics

Canadiens (1-0-1)
Shots: 36
Face-off %: 75.0
Power play: 0/2
Penalty minutes: 20
Hits: 14
Blocks: 20

Blackhawks (1-2-0)
Shots: 30
Face-off %: 25.0
Power play: 0/7
Penalty minutes: 8
Hits: 19
Blocks: 21

Scoring Summary

Canadiens Scorers
1st period: No scoring
2nd period: Caufield (2), Pearson (1), Monahan (1)
3rd period: No scoring
OT: n/a
SO: n/a

Blackhawks Scorers
1st period: No scoring
2nd period: No scoring
3rd period: Johnson (1), Johnson (2)
OT: n/a
SO: n/a

Goaltenders
MTL: Montembeault (W)
CHI: Mrazek (L)

Canadiens Players of the Game

Sean Monahan - After a quiet night in Toronto, Monahan led the team with a goal and an assist. He was pressed into extra duty when Montreal lost Kirby Dach to injury in the first period.

Kaiden Guhle - Guhle and Cole Caufield led the team with five shots on goal each. Guhle added a primary assist on Tanner Pearson's first goal.

Cole Caufield- The pursuit of 50 is on track as Caufield scored his second goal in two games. 

Video Highlights

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ta9XvnKhJJE[/embed]

Post-game Quotes

Marty St. Louis

"We defended well. We managed our zone entries well, we managed our play well in the offensive zone and we spent more time there. Then we stopped doing that in the third period. We were less organized defensively. There was too much risk in our game in the third period."

Game Preview

Bedard at the Bell Centre: "It Will Be Special" | PREVIEW: CHI @ MTL

Up Next

The Montreal Canadiens will host Kirill Kaprizov and the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday night at the Bell Centre.

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