Charlie Lindgren made 38 saves in his first career shutout, helping the Montreal Canadiens beat Corey Crawford and the Chicago Blackhawks 2-0 on Sunday night.
Lindgren and Crawford were locked up in a scoreless duel before Jonathan Drouin skated through the slot and shot the puck into the left side of the net at 1:54 of the third. Drouin’s third goal of
the season stopped Crawford’s scoreless streak at 173 minutes, 9 seconds.
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Defenceman Joe Morrow added his third career goal at 7:45, helping Montreal to its fourth win in five games. Morrow blasted a slap shot by a screened Crawford for his first goal since Oct. 27,
2015, for Boston against Arizona.
Coming off consecutive shutouts against Philadelphia and Minnesota, Crawford finished with 33 stops in his first career regulation loss against his hometown team.
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He was 8-0-2 with a 1.49 goals-against average in 10 career games against Montreal.
With Carey Price sidelined by a minor lower-body injury and Al Montoya coming off a 19-save performance in Saturday night’s 5-4 overtime win at Winnipeg, Lindgren made his first appearance of the season for the Canadiens. The Lakeville, Minnesota, native responded with Montreal’s first shutout of the season while improving to 4-0 in four career NHL starts.
Lindgren got over for a great blocker save on Jonathan Toews with 1:40 left in the first. Toews banged a shot off the left post early in the second, and Lindgren gloved another solid opportunity for Chicago’s captain with about seven minutes left in the third.
The Habs return home to host the high-flying expansion team Las Vegas Golden Knights Tuesday, puck-drop is at 7:38 p.m.
— With files from The Associated Press
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