The Associated Press
CHICAGO–Charlie Lindgren kept the Montreal Canadiens in the game until they finally solved Corey Crawford.
Not bad for a 23-year-old goalie making his first appearance of the season.
Lindgren had 38 saves in his first career shutout, helping the Canadiens beat Crawford and the Chicago Blackhawks 2-0 last night.
“We needed a solid performance from Charlie and he gave us that,” said head coach Claude Julien.
With Carey Price sidelined by a minor lower-body injury and Al Montoya coming off a 19-save performance the previous night in a 5-4 overtime win at Winnipeg, Julien turned to Lindgren for Montreal’s third game in four nights.
The Lakeville, Mn. native responded with Montreal’s first shutout while improving to 4-0 in four career NHL starts.
Lindgren was promoted from Laval of the AHL on Friday.
“I think down there the last four games or so, I was really starting to kind of get into a groove and playing really good,” he noted.
“I came up here and definitely want to make the most of my opportunity.”
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, nine seconds.
Defenceman Joe Morrow added his third career goal at 7:45, helping Montreal to its fourth win in five games.
Morrow blasted a slapshot past a screened Crawford for his first goal since Oct. 27, 2015 for Boston against Arizona.
“We played solid,” said Montreal forward Andrew Shaw.
“We didn’t give up too many prime scoring chances but when we did, Charlie was there.”
Coming off consecutive shutouts against Philadelphia and Minnesota, Crawford finished with 33 stops in his first career regulation loss against his hometown team.
He was 8-0-2 with a 1.49 GAA in 10 games against Montreal.
The Blackhawks have scored just 11 goals in their last six games.
“We know what we have behind us,” said forward Ryan Hartman.
“Crow’s been playing great for us. He’s kept us in some games, like in Minnesota,” he noted. “Even versus Philly, too.
“We need to generate some offence for him.”
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 before Lindgren gloved another solid opportunity for Chicago’s captain with about seven minutes left in the third.
Lindgren also robbed Richard Panik with 15 seconds left.
Elsewhere in the NHL, Detroit blanked Edmonton 4-0, Calgary topped New Jersey 5-4 (SO), and the N.Y. Islanders beat Colorado 6-4.
