Chicago Blackhawks defeat Montreal Canadiens 4-3 as rookie Ivan Demidov makes memorable debut

This was supposed to be one of those nights in Montreal—the kind where the crowd’s buzzing, the stakes are real, and some fresh-faced kid shows up outta nowhere and writes his name into the story. Ivan Demidov didn’t disappoint—scoring one and setting up another before the game was even fifteen minutes old. But the buzz that he created didn’t last. The Canadiens blew two leads and ultimately dropped a 4-3 shootout heartbreaker to the lowly Chicago Blackhawks on Monday, missing a prime chance to punch their ticket to the postseason.
With just one game left in their regular season—and Columbus lurking four points behind with a game in hand—Montreal’s playoff hopes are still alive, but they’re no longer in complete control.

There’s no sugarcoating it—the Canadiens needed this one. And for a while, it looked like they had it. Demidov, drafted fifth overall in 2024 and signed just last week out of SKA St. Petersburg, made an instant impact. He blew by Blackhawks defender Connor Murphy and slid a pass into the slot for Alex Newhook to open the scoring at the six-minute mark. Seven minutes later, he chased down a puck behind the net and scored on a gorgeous backhand.
“It’s crazy,” Demidov said. “I feel that the fans love me and it’s cool. Yeah, it’s amazing.”
Coach Martin St. Louis was equally impressed: “It was elite execution, a little deception to the backhand. It was really nice.”

From there, though, things unraveled. Chicago struck twice on the power play—once from Tyler Bertuzzi late in the first, and again from rookie Frank Nazar midway through the second.Early in the third, Lukas Reichel snuck behind the defense, got the puck in stride, and made no mistake on the breakaway to put Chicago in front.
Montreal’s pushback came late. Juraj Slafkovsky tied it up with just under three minutes left, deflecting a Cole Caufield shot in off his skate. It wasn’t pretty, but it counted. In the shootout, however, Nazar came through again—scoring the only goal to seal the win for Chicago.
“They needed to win this game to secure a playoff spot,” Nazar said. “We just prepared and had a plan.”
It’s the third straight loss for Montreal (0-1-2), and while the point helps, the stakes are tightening. Their final regular-season game is Wednesday against the Carolina Hurricanes—no easy task.
“At the end of the day, it’s still a big point and we’re going to keep going,” St. Louis said.
The Canadiens had a chance to take care of business at home, with the crowd behind them and a rookie stealing the spotlight. Instead, it’s another “what if” down the stretch.
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