Lindgren gets first NHL shutout, lifts Canadiens past Blackhawks

CHICAGO --Charlie Lindgren made 38 saves for his first NHL shutout in the Montreal Canadiens' 2-0 win against the Chicago Blackhawks at United Center on Sunday.

WATCH: [All Canadiens vs. Blackhawks highlights]
Montreal had lost seven straight games in Chicago since a 3-2 victory on Feb. 27, 2002.
"It was a very strong win, and it all started with [Lindgren]," Canadiens captain Max Pacioretty said. "That save in the first period, I think the backdoor save, two or three in the second. When he's making saves like that, when we see that, it helps us put our foot on the gas. ... He played phenomenal and I think it trickled down the lineup."
Lindgren, who made his season debut Sunday, has won all four starts in his NHL career (4-0-0). The Canadiens called the rookie up from Laval of the American Hockey League on Friday because starter Carey Price has a lower-body injury.
"I just wanted to do my best job preparing like I'm going to play and obviously got the call tonight, and I felt ready for it right from the beginning," Lindgren said. "I felt like I got that first save and really settled in. It was a very fun game."

Jonathan Drouin scored the game-winner at 1:54 of the third period, ending an eight-game goal drought.
"This year I'm just focused on being consistent in the way I play," Drouin said. "I think you look at all the top players that sometimes go through droughts. What are you doing other than that? Are you doing something good or are you doing something bad? Definitely nice to snap that one though."
The goal also ended Blackhawks goalie Corey Crawford's shutout streak at 173:09.
Crawford, a Montreal native, made 33 saves and lost to the Canadiens in regulation for the first time (8-1-2). He was coming off back-to-back shutouts, against the Philadelphia Flyers on Wednesday and at the Minnesota Wild on Saturday.
Joe Morrow, who assisted on Drouin's goal, scored at 7:45 of the third to make it 2-0 when his slap shot got past Crawford.
Montreal (6-8-1) has won four of its past five games after starting the season 2-7-1. Chicago (7-6-2) had won two straight.
"This was our third game in four nights, you know our team's going to be tired physically and so we had to be as sharp as we could mentally, really minimize our mistakes," Canadiens coach Claude Julien said. "But at the same time it was good to have a goaltender that was fresh and ready to go. We needed a solid performance from Charlie and he gave us that."

Goal of the game

Drouin's goal at 1:54 of the third period.

Save of the game

Lindgren's save on Jonathan Toews at 18:24 of the first.

Highlight of the game

Lindgren's save on Richard Panik at 19:44 of the third.

They said it

"It's incredible. Obviously you hear about United Center and the crowd and atmosphere. It definitely didn't disappoint, from the anthem to the whole game, it was really incredible. Obviously a very fun spot to get my first shutout." -- Canadiens goalie Charlie Lindgren

"We have to find a way to generate some offense. We scored the winning goals the last two games with our power play. Tonight we had a couple of looks that were OK but the offense is dry right now." -- Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville

Need to know

Andrew Shaw had an assist on Morrow's goal to extend his point streak to three games. ... Morrow had the third multipoint game of his NHL career and his first of the season. ... Blackhawks defenseman Cody Franson had a game-high six shots on goal and a season-high 22:06 of ice time. ... Toews won 9 of 13 face-offs and ranks third in the League with 189 face-off wins.

What's next

Canadiens: Host the Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday (7:30 p.m. ET; TSN2, RDS, ATTSN-RM, NHL.TV)
Blackhawks: At the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; TVA Sports, NBCSP, NBCSCH, NHL.TV)