Lindgren records 1st career shutout as Canadiens blank Blackhawks

CHICAGO (AP) Charlie Lindgren made 38 saves in his first career shutout, helping the Montreal Canadiens beat Corey Crawford and the Chicago Blackhawks 2-0 on Sunday night.

Lindgren and Crawford were locked up in a scoreless duel before Jonathan Drouin skated through the slot and shot the puck into the left side of the net at 1:54 of the third. Drouin's third goal of the season stopped Crawford's scoreless streak at 173 minutes, 9 seconds.

Defenseman Joe Morrow added his third career goal at 7:45, helping Montreal to its fourth win in five games. Morrow blasted a slap shot by a screened Crawford for his first goal since Oct. 27, 2015, for Boston against Arizona.

Coming off consecutive shutouts against Philadelphia and Minnesota, Crawford finished with 33 stops in his first career regulation loss against his hometown team. He was 8-0-2 with a 1.49 goals-against average in 10 career games against Montreal.

With Carey Price sidelined by a minor lower-body injury and Al Montoya coming off a 19-save performance in Saturday night's 5-4 overtime win at Winnipeg, Lindgren made his first appearance of the season for the Canadiens. The Lakeville, Minnesota, native responded with Montreal's first shutout of the season while improving to 4-0 in four career NHL starts.

Lindgren got over for a great blocker save on Jonathan Toews with 1:40 left in the first. Toews banged a shot off the left post early in the second, and Lindgren gloved another solid opportunity for Chicago's captain with about seven minutes left in the third.

Lindgren also robbed Richard Panik with 15 seconds left.

The Blackhawks also went 0 for 3 on the power play after scoring with the man advantage in each of their previous two games, including Saturday night's 2-0 victory at Minnesota.

NOTES: Canadiens F Phillip Danault skated off gingerly after blocking Michal Kempny's shot with about four minutes left in the third, but returned to the game. ... Chicago F Artem Anisimov had scored in four straight games. ... Blackhawks D Gustav Forsling missed his third straight game with an upper-body injury. He could return Thursday night at Philadelphia. ''He's very close,'' coach Joel Quenneville said. ''I think we give him four more days is what we're looking at.'' ... Canadiens F Jacob De La Rose was inserted into the lineup in place of Charles Hudon, who was sidelined by an upper-body injury. It was De La Rose's first game since Oct. 20. ... The Blackhawks wore camouflage-style jerseys for warmups that will be autographed and auctioned off online to benefit USO of Illinois.

UP NEXT

Canadiens: Begin a six-game homestand on Tuesday night against Vegas.

Blackhawks: Visit Philadelphia on Thursday night.

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Jay Cohen can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/jcohenap