Fleury gets win No. 500, Blackhawks shut out Canadiens

MONTREAL --Marc-Andre Fleury became the third goalie in NHL history to win 500 games when the Chicago Blackhawks defeated the Montreal Canadiens 2-0 at Bell Centre on Thursday.

Fleury, who was born in Sorel, Quebec, about an hour north of Montreal, made 30 saves to join Hockey Hall of Famers Martin Brodeur (691) and Patrick Roy (551).
He is the fastest to reach the milestone, doing so in 901 games.
"The NHL always seemed too far away from me, too good for me, and I never really actually thought I was going to make it," said Fleury, who selected by the Pittsburgh Penguins with the No. 1 pick in the 2003 NHL Draft. "I just kept playing and trying my best with it."
Said Blackhawks coach Derek King, "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."
The crowd at Bell Centre chanted "Fleury! Fleury!" as time wound down before the Blackhawks swarmed off their bench to celebrate, pushing the net up against the boards to congratulate the 37-year-old.
"It meant a lot for me to have so many people from Quebec maybe being proud of me for being from here and achieving this goal," Fleury said.

Jonathan Toews scored his first goal of the season for Chicago (10-14-2), which had lost two of its past three.
"It's amazing," Toews, the Blackhawks captain, said. "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."
Jake Allen made 23 saves for Montreal (6-19-3), which has lost five straight games (0-4-1) and is 4-10-1 at home.
"It must be special for [Fleury], especially doing it here," Canadiens coach Dominique Ducharme said. "And you know, 500 wins, you've got to tip your hat. That's a pretty nice career. We would have liked for him to get it, but not here, not against us."
Toews put the Blackhawks ahead 1-0 at 13:48 of the second period, deflecting a pass from Seth Jones near the right post on the power play.
The goal was his first since March 5, 2020, after he did not play last season because of what is being called chronic immune response syndrome.
"It was like three or four guys pulling the monkey off for me," Toews said. "It felt good. It was definitely weird to have a whole team probably jump on the ice and celebrate with me."

Henrik Borgstrom made it 2-0 at 12:00 of the third period. He intercepted a pass by Canadiens defenseman Alexander Romanov in the slot and spun around and scored on a wrist shot.
"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," Montreal forward Jonathan Drouin said. "But I think the last two games there's some positives there."
NOTES: Brodeur earned his 500th win in his 908th game, and Roy got his in his 933rd game. … Fleury's shutout was his second this season and 69th in the NHL. … Jones' assist on Toews' goal was his 20th this season in 26 games. Among defensemen in Blackhawks history, only Doug Wilson (17 games in 1982-83; 19 in 1989-90), Pat Stapleton (21 in 1968-69; 25 in 1969-70), Chris Chelios (25 in 1990-91) and Pierre Pilote (25 in 1965-66 and 1964-65) have reached the mark faster. … Canadiens forward Jesse Ylonen had one shot in 7:01 of ice time in his season debut (second NHL game).