*Photo from the Chicago Sun Times*
There was magic in the building known as Centre Bell. It was realized on Thursday. Jonathan Toews scored, Henrik Borgstrom scored, and the Chicago Blackhawks defeated the Montreal Canadiens with a 2-0 shutout victory on Thursday night in Montreal.
Marc-Andre Fleury, the Quebec native, born around an hour north of Montreal, picked up the win, stopping all 30 shots he faced for the shutout. But he also made NHL history. Because this win was the 500th of his career. Fleury is now just the 3rd goaltender in league history to win 500 games, joining Martin Brodeur and Patrick Roy. He's the fastest of the 3 to 500 wins, doing so in 901 games.
Blackhawks head coach Derek King said "Well, you saw the names, right? You saw the names. I don't even know even a decent goalie nowadays that's played around that many games, how many wins they've got. It's unbelievable. This, you're not going to see this often."
It wasn't just the Blackhawks who were happy for him either. The crowd at the Centre Bell, in the final seconds of the game, began chanting "Fleury! Fleury!" as the seconds ticked down and win number 500 was put in the record books. It's fitting in a way, the Quebec native getting a history making win in his home country, and province.
Toews felt the same way, saying that "It's amazing. I mean, so fitting he gets this win here in Montreal, too, with the greats that he's joined with 500 wins. Just the home of so many great goaltenders here in Montreal, so pretty cool for everyone in that locker room. I think we all feel pretty honored to be a part of that one."
Starting the scoring for the Blackhawks was Toews, who scored a power play goal, his first of the season and his first goal since March 5, 2020, after missing all of last season. Getting the assists were Patrick Kane and Seth Jones at 13:48 of the second period. Borgstrom scored in the 3rd period to make it a 2-0 game, his second goal of the season.
Jake Allen got the start in Montreal, and he could not stop the bleeding. Allen saved 23 of 25 shots in the loss, falling to 5-13-2 this season, with the Canadiens at 6-19-3, dead last in the Atlantic Division. The Canadiens are 0-4-1 in their last 5 games, and have a meager 4-10-1 record at home this season, coming off a Stanley cup finals run last year.
Canadiens forward Jonathan Drouin said of the tough stretch that "Sometimes in these stretches when you're not winning, you're not getting any points on the board for the standings, it's hard to see positives. But I think the last two games there's some positives there."
The Canadiens hit the road to face the St.Louis Blues on Saturday night as they look to turn the tide, with Allen the likely starter in net again. The Blackhawks stay in Canada for a matchup with the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday, with King saying that Kevin Lankinen would get the start in net.
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