Monahan has 2 points, Canadiens hold off Blackhawks

MONTREAL -- Sean Monahan had a goal and an assist for the Montreal Canadiens in a 3-2 win against Connor Bedard and the Chicago Blackhawks at Bell Centre on Saturday.

Cole Caufield scored for Montreal (1-0-1), and Sam Montembeault made 29 saves.

“When you come into the third with a lead you’ve got to know that they’re going to make a push,” Caufield said. “And tough bounce on the first goal, but I like how we stayed composed. Obviously, it kind of got away from us for a little bit there, but for sure, things that we can correct and move on from.”

Bedard had an assist, Tyler Johnson scored twice and Petr Mrazek made 33 saves for Chicago (1-2-0).

“We had our chances but a lot of breakdowns, and I think that’s why we lost,” Bedard said.

Bedard, the No. 1 pick in the 2023 NHL Draft, had an assist on Johnson’s second goal with Mrazek pulled, which cut it to 3-2 with 1:21 remaining in the third. The 18-year-old forward had a point in each of his first two games, including his first NHL goal in a 3-1 loss at the Boston Bruins on Wednesday.

“He was great, he had the puck all night, making plays,” Blackhawks forward Corey Perry said. “He’s in this league at 18 for a reason.”

Seth Jones came close to tying the game when his slap shot hit the left post after Monahan got a double minor for high-sticking Bedard with 22 seconds remaining.

The Blackhawks finished 0-for-7 on the power play and have not scored with the man-advantage through their first three games (0-for-14).

“It wasn’t just the PP, it was kind of our overall game,” Johnson said. “I think things weren’t going our way and then we started to get a little bit -- I don’t want to use selfish, but just trying to rely on our own skill instead of helping each other and making more of a team game. Sometimes when things aren’t going your way, you try to do that extra little bit too much. And when you do that, I find that’s when things go south pretty quick.”

Caufield put the Canadiens up 1-0 at 3:54 of the second period when he batted his own rebound out of the air and past Mrazek.

Tanner Pearson made it 2-0 at 7:56 on a shot past Mrazek’s glove from the top of the left circle for his first goal since being traded from the Vancouver Canucks in September.

“You always want to get the first one out of the way as early as you can and get the monkey off your back, per se,” Pearson said.

Monahan increased the lead to 3-0 at 17:38 with a short-handed breakaway goal off a pass by Rafael Harvey-Pinard.

“It seems like every game (Harvey-Pinard) is doing something different, he’s doing something right,” Caufield said. “And tonight that was a big play on the PK to give (Monahan) that breakaway, but he brings it every night no matter what the situation is and we’re lucky to have him.”

Johnson cut it to 3-1 just 35 seconds into the third period, shooting past Montembeault's stick side from the slot.

NOTES: Bedard is the 10th No. 1 pick in NHL history, and 10th player in Blackhawks history, to have a point in each of his first three NHL games. ... Caufield is the fifth Canadiens player in the past decade to score in each of their first two games of the season. ... Monahan led all skaters with a plus-3 rating and was 14-for-16 on face-offs.