Kaiden Guhle had a goal and an assist, and Jacob Fowler made 20 saves for the Canadiens (5-3-2), who have won two of their past three games (2-0-1).
Montreal will next play the Winnipeg Jets in the 2026 Tim Hortons NHL Heritage Classic at Winnipeg’s Princess Auto Stadium on Sunday (7 p.m. ET; SN, TVAS, TNT, truTV, HBO MAX).
Connor Bedard scored the lone goal, and Spencer Knight made 24 saves for the Blackhawks (3-7-0), who have lost two in a row.
Bedard put the Blackhawks ahead 1-0 at 4:23 of the first period. Bedard took a feed from Patrick Kane in the neutral zone, skated into the offensive zone and roofed a wrist shot past Fowler’s glove.
Evans tied the game 1-1 at 17:29 with his first goal of the season. He picked up a one-touch pass from Kirby Dach along the goal line to the left of the net, swung out in front and beat Knight glove side.
Evans’ short-handed goal at 7:45 of the second period put the Canadiens up 2-1. Evans moved down the left side on a 2-on-1 rush and scored on a wrist shot from the left face-off dot.
Guhle pushed the lead to 3-1 at 18:26 with a wrist shot from the left point that found the net through traffic. Josh Anderson provided a screen in front, preventing Knight from seeing the puck.
Mike Matheson, who missed the past four games with a lower-body injury, scored his first goal of the season on an empty net at 17:22 of the third period to secure the 4-1 final.
Montreal played without captain Nick Suzuki, who will be out 2-4 weeks because of an upper-body injury. It was the first time the 27-year-old forward missed a game in the NHL since making his debut in the 2019-20 season.
