With a win in any fashion, the Montreal Canadiens would clinch a berth in the postseason. The Bell Centre had a certain energy because of what was on the line.
There were also a couple of players who took their rookie laps ahead of warmups because they were making their NHL debut.
For the Blackhawks, Ryan Greene signed after his season ended with Boston University. He is a hard-working two-way forward that can bring it in all three zones.
As for the Canadiens, Ivan Demidov came to the NHL after breaking away from his KHL team following their season.
It took Demidov, who was a top-five draft pick for a reason, all of one period to make a significant impact in his first-ever NHL game.
Demidov helped the Canadiens get off to a fast start by making a beautiful feed to Alex Newhook for a goal. This assist is the first point in the career of Demidov.
Later in the opening frame, Demidov found a puck with nobody in front of him thanks to a pass off the end boards by Joel Armia. He put a beautiful move on Arvid Soderblom for his first career NHL goal.
Instead of letting Demidov continue to dominate, the Blackhawks started to show signs of life after that. Before the first period was over, Connor Bedard and Frank Nazar made a nice play to set up Tyler Bertuzzi, who didn’t miss his chance to get the Hawks on the board.
The Blackhawks played much better in the second period overall. They were eventually rewarded for it when Frank Nazar scored a power play goal to tie the game at 16:41. Teuvo Teravainen made a beautiful pass to Nazar while Connor Bedard drove the net. That’s the effort you like to see if you’re the coaching staff.
At 5:39 of the third period, Lukas Reichel gave the Blackhawks a 3-2 lead. Landon Slaggert made a neat pass to send Slaggert in for a good chance. Now, could the Blackhawks overcome their tendency to give up leads?
Late in the third, the Canadiens were given a power play, and they took full advantage. Lane Hutson made a wonderful play to feed Cole Caufield, who shot it into the net off of teammate Juraj Slafkovsky.
After overtime solved nothing, Chicago went to a shootout for the second game in a row. This time, a Frank Nazar goal and a couple of saves for Arvid Soderblom earned Chicago a win.
The Habs took a point, but they are still one point short of reaching the playoffs. The Columbus Blue Jackets are on their heels with another day to fight.
Now, the Blackhawks are taking a train to Canada’s national capital to take on the Ottawa Senators in their season finale. This is the second half of a back-to-back where Chicago is looking to finish strong.
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