In Chicago, Patrick Kane scored three straight goals for the Blackhawks on Sunday, in a 5-3 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs.
“Just got some chances tonight, obviously,” said Kane. “Going back to the last couple games, playing with Max Domi and [Philipp Kurashev], been getting some looks, and [it’s] nice to capitalize on them. Always nice to have a game like that at home.”
Kane’s stock just went up in after hours trading ahead of the NHL trade deadline.
After Kane put the Blackhawks up, 1-0, in the first, John Tavares scored for the Maple Leafs to tie the game, 1-1, after 20 minutes.
Kane completed his hat trick in the second period to stake Chicago to a 3-1 advantage.
“We never backed down. Anytime they got a goal, we went right back at them,” Blackhawks coach Luke Richardson said. “We had good, fast shifts the other way, and that’s a good responding point for our team right now. We have different guys in the lineup, and they’ve been in and out for two or three games together, and they’re starting to jell a little bit and get comfortable.”
Jaxson Stauber made 32 saves in Chicago win.
The Blackhawks moved to 18-32-5.
“I’ve only seen vintage Patrick Kane on TV, so to see it live … but he’s been definitely playing with, obviously, confidence and swagger that you’re normally going to see him with,” Richardson said.
“He hasn’t complained once this year. He’s done anything we’ve asked and more. And he’s kind of a quiet leader.”
The Maple Leafs’ Noel Acciari scored his first goal for Toronto at 17:46 of the third to cut the deficit to 3-2.
“It felt great to get it out early,” Acciari said. “You know, ‘Footsie,’ good poise bringing it in and ‘Kamper,’ I don’t know how he [did it]? Glove to stick? To me, it was great and I put it in.”
Toronto dropped to 34-15-8.
“I just thought we were clearly a very tired group right from the start and made tired mistakes,” Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe said. “When you’re tired, you’ve got to be really smart and structured and all of that. Some of the clean looks we gave up tonight are the result of not being smart.
“Those kind of mistakes you look at, but in terms of the energy and the execution, as a group, we knew this was going to be a tough one today.”
Mitchell Marner scored at 7:48 of the third to knot the game, 3-3.
“I was kind of curling back there. I saw I had a bit of speed, and I saw that [defenseman] trying to hold that blue line,” Marner said. “I went eye to eye with [Rielly] and tried to say end wall. I was lucky enough [that] he heard me. I think me and him have connected a couple times on that play and it hasn’t resulted in a goal, but it’s a great little bounce pass off the wall from him.”
Chicago’s Cole Guttman picked up a loose puck in the defensive zone and raced down the right boards and wristed the puck home for what would be eventual game-winner in a 4-3 lead.
It was his first career NHL goal, unassisted.
“It felt amazing,” Guttman said. “That was definitely a dream come true. I’ve thought about that my whole life, so it felt great to put it in.”
Max Domi added an empty-net strike for the 5-3 final.
Ilya Samsonov made 23 saves in the Maple Leafs loss.
“I had a skate [Saturday], 30 minutes, probably,” Samsonov said. “I feel better today, but it’s still a little bit hard after I lost a lot of water. A little bit hard today. That’s a hard game for us, for the whole team.”
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