Canadiens Beaten By Arvid Soderblom

The Montreal Canadiens were hoping for a fourth consecutive win tonight as they were taking in the Chicago Blackhawks in the fourth game of their five-game road trip. Tonight, the Canadiens were without Patrik Laine (flu like symptoms, replaced by Michael Pezzetta on the second line) and David Savard (upper-body injury, replaced by Jayden Struble).

It was a special night for the Dach Brothers as Canadiens’ Kirby and Blackhawks’ Colton locked horns for the first time.

The Habs started out well testing goaltender Arvid Soderblom right away and applying pressure on the forecheck, but they were stopped in their tracks when Arber Xhekaj and Jayden Struble were assessed simultaneous minor penalty.

With two minutes to work with on a double man-advantage, the Blackhawks were able to open the score through Tyler Bertuzzi who was left all alone on the doorstep, but Chicago couldn’t get another lamplighter with Struble still in the box.

The Canadiens were hurt by the penalties and had lost their momentum, which might just be why Xhekaj chose to drop the gloves against Patrick Maroon. Unsurprisingly, the Habs’ tough guy came out on top, but his prize was another all inclusive trip to the penalty box. Losing a fourth liner doesn’t hurt as much as losing one of your regular blueliners, especially when already down a veteran like David Savard.

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Still, there was no harm done and nor was there when Alexandre Carrier was sent to the box for cross-checking. Montreal was also unable to capitalize on its sole power play, but Martin St-Louis’ men did manage to tie up the score with less than two minutes to go in the first frame.

Cole Caufield found himself all alone in front of Soderblom and snuck the puck in near side, his 20th of the season. Overall, it was an entertaining period of hockey, and the Canadiens also showed some aggression. Alex Newhook applied a hard check on Connor Bedard and Nick Suzuki obliterated an unsuspecting Nolan Allan, but it was a legal check.

The Blackhawks started the second frame strong, recording the first five shots on net, but they would only manage eight in the whole frame while the Canadiens put on whopping 19 shots on Soderblom’s net. Still, it was the Hawks who managed to take the lead.

Captain Nick Foligno deflected a shot from the blueline and it beat Montembeault stick side. It certainly wasn’t that Montreal wasn’t trying, at the end of 40 minutes, Mike Matheson had seven shots on net while Cole Caufield had six, but it’s the goals that matter.

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The Canadiens’ pressure almost paid off in the dying minutes, but Soderblom stood tall, still, the Hawks ended up taking a penalty to give Montreal a two-minute power play to start the third frame.

Unfortunately, the Habs were unable to score on the man-advantage and a minute later, it was the Hawks who found the back of the net through Maroon. Canadiens’ rookie Emil Heineman gave Montreal some hope when he scored his 10th of the season batting the puck out of midair, but hope was short lived.

Foligno scored a second goal on the night after Montembeault was unable to locate the puck following a shot on the post. With a score of 4-2 St-Louis pulled his goalie, but nothing came out of it. After beating three recent Stanley Cup champions in a row, the Canadiens lost to a team who had lost its last five games.

It’s not that the Habs didn’t show up tonight, but Soderblom was the star of the evening, surrendering only two goals on 40 shots. He finished his evening with a .950 save percentage, most of the time, when you’re goaltender has such a SP, you’re not going to lose.

The Canadiens will have to move on quite swiftly as they play again tomorrow in Colorado. The Avalanche have won their last six games and will be a tough test for the young Habs.

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