Montreal 2, Blackhawks 0: 3 takeaways

In an original six matchup, the Chicago Blackhawks welcomed the Montreal Canadiens Sunday night. Montreal turned to Charlie Lindgren to deny the Blackhawks bid for their first three game win streak of the season. Here are my three takeaways from Chicago’s 2-0 loss.

Connor Murphy may need to sit

At just 24 years old Connor Murphy is going to make mistakes. After Sunday’s game it may time for the young defenseman to sit down for a game or two. His costly turnover led to Montreal’s second goal and he was also on the ice for Montreal’s opening tally. Defense was always going to be an area of concern for this team, but it may do him well to take in the game from a different angle. Knowing Joel Quenneville’s short leash for younger players don’t be surprised to see Murphy a healthy scratch on Thursday in favor of Gustav Forsling.

No urgency in the third

During stretches of Sunday’s game Chicago appeared to be the better team. Jonathan Toews had a couple of good looks and it seemed like it was only a matter of time before the Hawks were going to get on the board. Going into the third period tied at zero I figured the Hawks would come out with a sense of urgency. Instead, the Canadiens came out and controlled play for most of the final period. At one point the Hawks were being out shot 13-2. Not until the final minutes of the game was there any sense of concern but by then it was too little too late.

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Corey Crawford’s streak comes to an end

Other than the loss, perhaps the most disappointing thing to happen on Sunday night was Corey Crawford’s shutout streak coming to an end. For just over eight periods the Chicago netminder did not allow a goal. This is not the first time he has played at this level as this was his second-best streak of scoreless hockey. The Vezina Trophy hopeful was solid in net once again stopping 33 shots. The way this team struggles to find the back of the net, they will need more of the same from the two-time Stanley Cup winner.

Next: Nashville 2, Blackhawks 1: 3 takeaways

The Blackhawks will have a couple days to forget about this game. They travel to Philadelphia on Thursday to face a Flyers team who they just defeated 3-0 on Nov. 1.