When the Montreal Canadiens began their current five-game road trip, a victory in Chicago seemed more possible than a triumph in Florida or Las Vegas.
And yet…
After a trio of victories as deserved as they were unexpected against the Panthers, the Lightning and the Golden Knights, the Canadiens lost 4-2 on Friday night against the Blackhawks, the worst team in the National Hockey League.
The Habs (17-18-3, 37 points) thus see their streak of three triumphs end against the Blackhawks (13-24-2, 28 points) who put an end to a series of five losses.
Patrik Laine, suffering from the flu, did not take part in the match, which visibly distorted the fine balance of Martin St-Louis’ trios for several matches.
Not only is Michael Pezzetta not Laine, but the absence of David Savard in defense – replaced by Jayden Struble – caused the same effect. It’s a bit as if the beautiful mechanics of the last matches had been derailed.
Despite 40 shots aimed at goalkeeper Arvid Soderblom, errors from Alexandre Carrier and Juray Slafkovsky directly led to the opponent’s goals. It’s likely that Nick Suzuki will have nightmares thinking about Soderblom.
A curious double penalty – leading to a five-on-three for the Blackhawks – at the start of the game also destabilized the Canadians.
Cole Caufield (20th) and Emil Heineman (10th) scored the goals for the Canadiens. This is a fourth consecutive season of at least 20 goals for Caufield. Samuel Montembeault faced 26 pucks.
Nick Foligno (9th, 10th), Tyler Bertuzzi (13th) and Pat Maroon (2nd) hit the target for the winners.
The Canadiens will be in Colorado on Saturday to face the Avalanche.
Double penalty, one goal
Unusual moment 1:58 into the game. Jayden Struble received a penalty for slashing Frank Nazar and Arber Xhekaj for tripping… Frank Nazar.
And at five on three, the Blackhawks took the opportunity to take the lead at 3:21 through Tyler Bertuzzi.
The local team missed an opportunity to add to their lead when Alexandre Carrier was in the penalty box. Nonetheless, the Canadians experienced a particularly difficult first half.
It happened again at the end of the period, when Cole Caufield scored his 20th goal of the season, at 18:24, following a nice pass from Mike Matheson.
