Kirby Dach had an opportunity to stick it to his former team, and he ran with it.
The Montreal Canadiens and Chicago Blackhawks went back and forth on Friday afternoon and wound up going to a shootout after the score remained tied at 2-2 after five minutes of overtime. After goaltender Sam Montembeault stopped Patrick Kane in the second round, Dach had an opportunity to win the game in the third.
Dach came in and wired a shot underneath the pad of Blackhawks goalie Arvid Soderblom. As Dach was skating back to his bench, he looked toward the Chicago crowd and made an "I can’t hear you" gesture.
The Blackhawks selected Dach with the No. 3 overall pick in the 2019 NHL Draft. He had a strong rookie season, scoring 23 points across 64 games as a 19-year-old in 2019-20, but Dach didn’t take the step forward the team was hoping for, as he combined for just 36 points over 88 games in 2021 and 2021-22.
During the first round of the 2022 NHL Draft, which was held in Montreal, the Blackhawks traded Dach to the Canadiens in exchange for the No. 13 and No. 66 overall picks, which Chicago used on Frank Nazar and Gavin Hayes.
While Dach did receive boos from the crowd in his first game back in Chicago since the trade, the gesture was likely also directed toward the team’s front office for opting to trade him rather than keeping him around for their rebuild.
In 20 games with the Habs, Dach has four goals and 17 points. He suited up on Montreal’s top line alongside Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki during Friday’s game in Chicago.
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