Blackhawks 2, Canadiens 1
MONTREAL -- Goaltender Corey Crawford turned in another strong performance to help the Chicago Blackhawks to a 2-1 win over the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday night at the Bell Centre.
The win was Chicago's ninth straight and the 783rd of Joel Quenneville's coaching career, moving the Blackhawks' bench boss past Al Arbour to become the second-winningest coach in NHL history.
Crawford, a native of Chateauguay, Quebec, on Montreal's South Shore, stopped 39 shots for the Blackhawks.
Center Jonathan Toews and left winger Ryan Garbutt scored for Chicago (29-13-4).
Left winger Paul Byron connected for Montreal (23-18-3) and goalie Mike Condon made 31 saves for the Canadiens.
Toews opened the scoring with his 17th of the season at 8:26 of the first period. Defenseman Duncan Keith dished off to Andrew Shaw along the left-wing boards. The left winger skated into the circle and fired a shot from the dot that Condon saved, but Shaw picked up the rebound and sent a tape-to-tape cross-crease pass to an uncovered Toews to the right of the net.
Byron tied the game just over two minutes later. Center David Desharnais picked up defenseman P.K. Subban's feed in the neutral zone and skated it up the right side before tossing a backhand shot from the hashmarks on Crawford. Byron used his speed to get behind the Blackhawks' defense and drove to the net for a perfectly timed tip.
Garbutt restored Chicago's lead at 12:56. Right winger Richard Panik got the puck to defenseman Michal Roszival at the top of the right circle. His shot found its way to Garbutt inside the left circle, and Garbutt fired quickly to beat Condon top shelf.
NOTES: Canadiens LW Tomas Fleischmann returned to the lineup after sitting the last two games as a healthy scratch. ... Montreal scratched RW Devante Smith-Pelly, D Jarred Tinordi and D Greg Pateryn. The Blackhawks scratched LW Brandon Mashinter and LW Bryan Bickell while D Erik Gustafsson missed the game with a lower-body injury. ... Chicago C Artem Anisimov flew to Montreal on Thursday after missing Tuesday's game against Nashville with an illness. ... Canadiens D Andrei Markov dressed for his 890th career game with the team, tying Doug Harvey for 12th on the Habs' games played list. ... Blackhawks LW Phillip Danault suited up for his first appearance in his home province since playing for his hometown of Victoriaville in the QMJHL.