The night was supposed to belong to Al Montoya.
The Canadiens backup was cannon fodder for the Columbus Blue Jackets two Fridays ago, left to fend for himself in a 10-0 loss that admittedly left a sour taste in his mouth.
In his first game since that debacle, in front of family and friends in his hometown of Chicago, Il., Montoya was one save from singlehandedly extending Montreal’s hot start to 14-1-1 on the season.
But there was no stopping Chicago’s third goal, an individual effort that’s sure to be on highlight reels from here to eternity, care of one of—if not—the world’s most talented player in Patrick Kane.
The even-strength marker, scored at 16:23 of the second period, held up as the winner.
Montoya, who made 32 saves in Montreal’s 3-2 loss to the Blackhawks Sunday, had nothing to hang his head about on the play—or any other in the game.
“We know we owe Monty one,” said Canadiens forward Andrew Shaw on Saturday before he and his teammates took off for Chicago.
Coming off a one-goal, two-assist performance against the Red Wings a night previous, Shaw attempted to take matters into his own hands against the only other team he’d ever played for in the NHL; the team he had won two Stanley Cups with.
He had a team-leading six shots on net against the Blackhawks—two of them point-blank chances eliminated by goaltender Corey Crawford, who improved to 6-0-2 lifetime against the Canadiens.
At the other end, Montoya stood on his head while the Canadiens slept on a one-goal lead acquired on Andrei Markov’s booming wrist shot just 2:40 into the second period.
The Blackhawks came in waves, zig-zagging through the offensive zone and stretching Montoya to both sides of his crease.
There was nothing the Canadiens netminder could do on Marian Hossa’s tap-in from beside the net at 11:29 of the second period. And an odd sequence of events led to Kane’s winner less than three minutes later.
Just 48 seconds before the Kane goal, Chicago defenceman Brent Seabrook hit Montoya with a point shot that deflected into upper reaches of the netting above the glass. The whistle should’ve blown, but no one noticed and play continued.
It was an unlucky break for a goaltender who’s faced more than his fair share in the early part of the season.
But it wasn’t luck, or bad luck, that kept Montreal from breaking a losing streak in Chicago that dates back to 2002.
After Markov gave them the lead, the Canadiens managed just three shots on goal for the remainder of the second period. They only found Crawford’s net three more times in the first 10 minutes of the third.
It wasn’t for lack of want, either, that the Canadiens couldn’t pull through.
They pushed hard for the game-tying goal, recording eight shots and their best scoring chances of the game as the clock ticked away.
The Blackhawks, who came into the game with the Western Conference’s best record, proved to be a formidable opponent on this night. They stormed out of the gate to put the Canadiens—who had only trailed for a total of 96 minutes in their first 15 games—to score the game’s first goal. They responded to two quick strikes from Shea Weber and Markov at the beginning of the second, and plugged up the neutral zone with stifling defensive pressure once their lead was restored by Kane’s heroics.
There wasn’t much the Canadiens — who clearly couldn’t match Chicago’s energy after playing a thorough game against Detroit on Saturday — could do about the outcome.
There wasn’t much Montoya could do, either.
Just before the midway mark of the third period, Montoya appeared to tweak something. He gestured to the Canadiens bench before making two of his best saves of the night, and a television timeout gave him the opportunity to get some treatment on his left leg from team trainer Graham Rynbend.
Montoya remained in the game, and he gave the Canadiens a chance to pull even after keeping them in all night.
It just wasn’t meant to be.
Instead Montoya now wears both regulation-time losses the Canadiens have suffered this season.
His next chance, provided he’s healthy, will almost assuredly come this Friday, when the Canadiens travel to Carolina to take on the Hurricanes before returning to Montreal to host the Toronto Maple Leafs Saturday.
Perhaps that will be Montoya’s night.
