Blackhawks Fall to the Maple Leafs; Lose 4-1

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The 8-14-2 Chicago Blackhawks met the 14-7-2 Toronto Maple Leafs for a Monday night matchup at Scotiabank Arena on Dec. 2. The Blackhawks were coming off a disappointing 6-3 loss the night before to the Columbus Blue Jackets at the United Center, while the Maple Leafs defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning 5-3 last Saturday night (Nov. 30).

The stronger team prevailed, as the Leafs won the game 4-1, extending their win streak to two games in a row and six of their last seven. The Blackhawks have now lost their last three contests. Here are the highlights from this one.

Matthews Breaks Through in the First Period

The Blackhawks made a bit of a tweak to their top-six forwards for this game. Head coach Luke Richardson moved Tyler Bertuzzi (who formerly played for the Maple Leafs) to the top line alongside Taylor Hall and Connor Bedard. Philipp Kurashev was then moved to the second line, centering Ryan Donato and Teuvo Teravainen.

The game got off to a decent pace right off the bat, with both teams exchanging chances. Late in the frame, Maple Leafs’ Auston Matthews finally broke through. The Blackhawks were in the middle of a change, and a well-timed pass by William Nylander put Matthews behind the defense for an easy breakaway goal. It was his sixth of the season. This contest was the second game back after being out of the lineup for nine games to with an upper body injury.

The Maple Leafs took advantage of the Blackhawks change, but the Hawks have to be more aware of one of the best players on the ice. Matthews shouldn’t have been that wide open.

Both teams ended up with nine shots on goal in the first, including a shot on goal from the Blackhawks goaltender, Arvid Soderblom!

You certainly don’t see that very often!

The line changes the Blackhawks made seemed to pay off. Bertuzzi, especially, was digging for pucks & getting to the front of the net, where he does his best work. As a matter of fact, he took a Bedard shot to the midsection and had some trouble getting back to the bench. But he was back out the next shift, and the Blackhawks had nothing to show for their efforts at the end of the first.

Second Frame Sees the Maple Leafs Double Their Lead

The Blackhawks were pushing hard in this frame to tie things up, but it was a flukey play that did them in and put the Maple Leafs up 2-0. John Tavares scored his 11th goal about mid-way through the frame. He took a shot that looked like it deflected off Blackhawks’ defenseman Alex Vlasic’s stick. It might have even hit defenseman Connor Murphy before bouncing in past an unsuspecting Soderblom. At the very least, Murphy unwittingly screened his own goaltender. The Leafs’ admin called it a double-doink.

The Hawks had the advantage in pretty much all areas in the second frame, except in the goal department. Toronto netminder Anthony Stolarz stood on his head to stifle the Blackhawks, who just couldn’t buy a goal.

Meanwhile, the Maple Leafs stuck to their game, playing patient and waiting for their chances in the third.

Blackhawks Fight Back in the Third Period; Fall Short

The fourth line came through once again for Chicago in the third period. Lukas Reichel tallied his third goal of the season, assisted by Pat Maroon and T.J. Brodie (another former Maple Leaf) to cut the lead in half. This line of Reichel, Maroon and Craig Smith has contributed a lot this season despite their more limited playing time.

Alas, Fraser Minten scored his second of the season just 20 seconds later to make it 3-1, just like that. The Blackhawks are guilty this season of letting in goals shortly after they score, and this was another case of them taking their foot off the gas.

Fraser Minten Toronto Maple Leafs
Toronto Maple Leafs’ Fraser Minten, scored just 20 seconds after the Chicago Blackhawks cut their lead in half. (Photo by Mark Blinch/NHLI via Getty Images)

While the Hawks fought until the end, they couldn’t surpass a superior opponent and a red-hot goaltender. Matthew Knies notched the empty net goal (his 10th goal of the season) at the 18:15 mark of the third period to put the game away, 4-1.

Final Thoughts on the Blackhawks & the Maple Leafs

-The Maple Leafs played a very well-rounded effort, with Philippe Myers registering four shots on goal, while Matthews, Nylander, Nicholas Robertson and Tavares all contributed three shots on goal. Toronto was also credited with 35 hits and 16 blocked shots (to the Blackhawks’ 22 hits and six blocked shots), and they won 63% of their faceoffs.

–Ilya Mikheyev and Smith led the Blackhawks in shots, each with four. Bedard didn’t register even a shot on goal in this game. The Blackhawks ended the night with 28 shots to the Maple Leafs’ 22 shots.

-Neither team was able to capitalize on the power play in this game. The Blackhawks had four power play chances and the Maple Leafs had two. Just one power play goal by the Blackhawks could have made this a different game.

Related – Blackhawks Lukas Reichel Finally Finding His Way

The Maple Leafs (now 15-7-2) welcome the Nashville Predators to their barn this Wednesday (Dec. 4), while the Blackhawks (now 8-15-2) will head home to also host the Boston Bruins that same night. This is a case of two teams headed in very different directions right now.

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