Blackhawks Postgame
Blackhawks Crumble Late; Suffer Tragic 3-2 Loss To Maple Leafs
In their second game without Connor Bedard, the Chicago Blackhawks looked well on their way to an emphatic team victory to start the current three-game road trip. With less than 11 minutes to play, the Blackhawks held a commanding 2-0 lead over the Toronto Maple Leafs, and the home crowd at Scotiabank Arena was beginning to become restless.
But over the final half of the third period, the mood quickly flipped in the building, as the Leafs rattled off three unanswered goals to steal a 3-2 win over the Blackhawks on Tuesday. Two of Toronto’s three goals were scored in eight seconds with just over three minutes remaining.
“Obviously, that’s a gut-punch at the end,” head coach Jeff Blashill said. “We played a really good game and probably deserved to win… we’re going to have to do a good job of having a short-term memory.”
It’s a heartbreaking defeat for the Bedard-less Blackhawks, who were so close to earning their first win without the superstar in the lineup. The defense held up and had a stout performance for most of the game, limiting the Leafs to only ten high-danger scoring chances. But a few costly blunders late gave Toronto the openings they needed to make a dramatic comeback.
With a 2-1 lead and less than four minutes to go, Dominic Toninato committed a poor holding-the-stick penalty to put the Maple Leafs on the power play. Shortly into the man advantage, defensive standout Ilya Mikheyev made a rare mistake, turning the puck over to Auston Matthews near his own net. Matthews scooped up the puck and fired a shot over goaltender Spencer Knight’s shoulder to tie the game 2-2.
Then, off the ensuing faceoff, tragedy struck for the Blackhawks. Troy Stetcher’s dump-in attempt from center ice was directed on goal, and Knight misplayed the puck right into the slot. Dakota Joshua outhustled Louis Crevier to the loose change and snuck a shot past Knight and into the far corner. In just eight seconds, the Maple Leafs went from down 2-1 to ahead 3-2.
What was so close to becoming one of the best wins of the season quickly shifted into one of the most gut-wrenching defeats. For 50 minutes, the Blackhawks were in full control and on the verge of picking up a key two points, only for all their hard work to suddenly go to waste.
While it’s surely difficult to process at the moment, this must serve as another crucial learning lesson for the young Blackhawks, who fall to 3-9-2 over their last 14 games since Nov. 20. Despite the situation, Blashill remained composed during his postgame media session and was pleased with how well the group played up until the final moments. He was more focused on the process instead of the outcome.
“The reality is, if we play like that on a consistent basis, we’re going to win lots of games. You have to understand process… All we can do is learn from this game and then move forward against Montreal, and that’s what we’ll do.”
Here are the highlights from a sour finish in Toronto, where the Blackhawks blew a late 2-0 lead and lost 3-2.
FIRST PERIOD
While the opening half of the period zipped along without many whistles, neither side could get the puck on net. Through the game’s first ten minutes, the two teams combined for only three shots on goal, with Chicago having a 2-1 edge.
Just past the 10-minute mark of the period, the Blackhawks opened the scoring on just their third shot of the game. Dominic Toninato, who was recalled from the AHL last week, won an offensive-zone faceoff and immediately parked himself right in front of Joseph Woll, providing a terrific screen. Wyatt Kaiser then took advantage of some soft coverage from Toronto and wristed a shot through traffic for his third goal of the season.
Kaiser now has three goals in his last seven games, while Toninato picked up his first point as a member of the Blackhawks.
It looked like the Blackhawks extended their lead to 2-0 just over one minute later, as Jason Dickinson poked a loose puck through Woll’s wickets on a scrum near the crease. However, Leafs’ head coach Craig Berube challenged the play for goaltender interference, and the officials saw enough on the replay to overturn the goal. Still 1-0.
But Dickinson ended up with the last laugh, as he put the Blackhawks ahead 2-0, officially, with a shorthanded goal after a brutal giveaway from William Nylander. Ilya Mikheyev made a no-look pass to set up Dickinson for a one-timer, and he buried the feed for his third goal of the season. It was also the Blackhawks’ third shorthanded goal as a team this year.
Chicago got off to a terrific start to the road trip with a sharp first period in Toronto. The Blackhawks led 10-7 in shots on goal and took a two-goal advantage into the intermission.
SECOND PERIOD
In the early moments of the second period, Nick Lardis and Oliver Moore showed off some of the clear chemistry they established earlier this season when playing in the AHL together. Lardis made a perfect touch pass to find Moore racing into the offensive zone in stride, but Woll came up with the pad save to keep the score at 2-0.
The Blackhawks limited the Leafs to only four high-danger chances in the period, and one of those four came off Matthew Knies’ stick near the midway point. Knies was all alone at the far post on an odd-man rush, but Spencer Knight pushed across the crease to make the save. Still 2-0.
Both goaltenders stood tall in the middle stanza, as the game remained 2-0 going into the second intermission. The Blackhawks’ defense kept Toronto off the board through 40 minutes and held them to only 15 shots on goal. Chicago also led 13-9 in scoring chances and 5-3 in high-danger chances at even strength. Low-event hockey isn’t a bad idea without Connor Bedard.
THIRD PERIOD
Toronto didn’t show much desperation out of the intermission, but they finally managed to get the puck past Knight with 10:01 left in the third period. It was just their fifth shot on goal of the frame.
Auston Matthews won an offensive-zone faceoff, and Oliver Ekman-Larsson’s shot from the point found its way through traffic to cut the Blackhawks’ lead to 2-1.
After allowing the goal, the Blackhawks strung several strong shifts together to keep the Maple Leafs at bay. But with 3:39 to go, Toninato was sent to the penalty box, which changed the course of the game.
Just 30 seconds into the power play, Matthews picked up his second point of the period by sniping a shot past Knight to tie the game 2-2. Entering Tuesday, the Blackhawks’ penalty kill was 24-for-26 over the last 11 games, but they picked a horrendous time to give up a rare goal.
Here’s the heartbreaking moment of the night. Just after Matthews’ goal, Toronto threw the puck into the offensive zone and created a scoring chance out of nothing. Stetcher’s dump-in attempt came from well beyond center ice, but Knight errantly pushed the puck into the most dangerous area. Crevier didn’t do his goaltender any favors, as Joshua proved to be the hungrier player by winning the 1-on-1 battle out in front of the Blackhawks’ net.
Two goals in eight seconds sank the Blackhawks in Toronto on Tuesday. They looked shell-shocked after that point, as Knight couldn’t get off for the extra attacker until there were only 80 seconds to play.
To start the period, it was the Leafs who lacked desperation in their play. But after the lead suddenly flipped late, it was the Blackhawks who ended the game looking shell-shocked. Knight couldn’t get off the ice for the extra attacker until there were only 80 seconds to play, and the visitors never made much of a threatening attempt to tie the game.
The final horn sounded, and the Blackhawks rapidly scurried down the tunnel in frustration. With the loss, Chicago moves to 13-14-6 on the season. The road trip continues into Montreal for a meeting with the Canadiens on Thursday.
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