The Canadiens had a chance to do something Friday night in Chicago they haven’t been able to do in almost three full years — win four games in a row.
They came up short, losing 4-2 to the Blackhawks to end their second three-game winning streak of the season.
The last time the Canadiens won four straight games was on Feb. 23, 2022, when they beat the Buffalo Sabres 4-0 at the Bell Centre. The Canadiens would make it five straight wins three nights later with a 2-1 victory over the Senators in Ottawa.
Since then, the Canadiens have had two three-game win streaks in 2022-23, one in 2023-24 and two this season, but never four consecutive wins.
The Blackhawks got two goals from Nick Foligno and singles from Tyler Bertuzzi and Pat Maroon on Friday night to end their five-game losing streak, but they remain in last place in the overall NHL standings with a 13-24-2 record. The Canadiens got goals from Cole Caufield and Emil Heineman as their record fell to 17-18-3 and they remain three points out of the final wild-card playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
The Blackhawks are 13-5-1 in their last 19 games against Montreal and have earned at least a point in 10 of their last 13 games against the Canadiens at the United Center (9-3-1)
The Canadiens were coming off impressive road wins over the Florida Panthers, Tampa Bay Lightning and Vegas Golden Knights, three teams that are much better than the Blackhawks.
Against the Blackhawks, the Canadiens were without forward Patrik Laine and defenceman David Savard, who were scratched from the lineup shortly before game time. Laine was suffering from flu-like symptoms, while Savard has an upper-body injury. Michael Pezzetta replaced Laine, playing for the first time since Oct. 27 after being made a healthy scratch for 28 consecutive games. Jayden Struble replaced Savard after being a healthy scratch for the previous eight games.
The Canadiens outshot the Blackhawks 40-26, but could only beat goalie Arvid Soderblom twice. The 40 shots were a season high for the Canadiens. Samuel Montembeault started in goal for the Canadiens for the third straight game and the 13th time in the last 14 games.
The Canadiens got off to a tough start when Arber Xhekaj (for tripping) and Struble (for slashing) were both sent to the penalty box 1:58 into the first period. Bertuzzi scored on the ensuing 5-on-3 power play.
“I think we played well,” Canadiens head coach Martin St. Louis told reporters in Chicago after the game. “We had a super-good start. It sucks that we took two penalties. It gave them a bit of life because we had a good start again.”
St. Louis added the Canadiens played to their identity, but just couldn’t score enough, giving credit to the Blackhawks and Soderstrom.
Caufield tied it up 1-1 at 18:24 of the first period with his 20th goal of the season, marking the fourth straight season he has hit that mark. The last Canadiens player to reach the 20-goal mark in each of his first four full seasons in the NHL was Stéphane Richer from 1985-86 to 1988-89. Richer is also the last Canadien to reach the 50-goal mark when he scored 51 goals in 1989-90. Caufield, who scored a career-high 28 goals last season, is now on pace to get 43 goals this season after scoring in three of the last four games.
Heineman scored in a second straight game at 9:45 of the third period, cutting the Blackhawks’ lead to 3-2. Heineman’s 10 goals this season rank third among NHL rookies behind the Philadelphia Flyers’ Matvei Michkov and the San Jose Sharks’ Macklin Celebrini, who have 12 goals each. Foligno provided the dagger for the Blackhawks when he scored his second goal of the game with 4:09 left on the clock.
Pezzetta had only 5:49 of ice time, during which he had three shots on goal and three hits. Struble had 10:27 of ice time on the third defence pairing with Xhekaj, who had a first-period fight with Foligno and led the Canadiens with four hits in 9:59 of ice time. Defenceman Mike Matheson assisted on both Canadiens goals and had a team-high eight shots on goal while logging a team-high 28:10 of ice time.
“It was just nice to be back with the guys,” Pezzetta told reporters in Chicago after the game. “Everyone’s been so awesome and I was just so excited to play today. Unfortunately, we got the loss, which is a bummer. But it was just nice to be back.
“It definitely was probably the hardest stretch of my career, just mentally staying with it,” Pezzetta added about being a healthy scratch for more than two months. “But, like I said, the guys have been really good with me, all the trainers, all the staff, making sure that I was ready that I could go out there today and after not playing for a while felt good at least. Proud of myself and I’m proud of everybody for how they took care of me.”
The Canadiens will wrap up their six-game road trip Saturday in Colorado against the Avalanche (7 p.m., Citytv, SNE, TVA Sports). The Canadiens will then face the Vancouver Canucks on Monday at the Bell Centre (7:30 p.m., Prime, RDS).