In Chicago Wednesday night, the visiting Toronto Maple Leafs and Blackhawks traded goals in the fist and third period in a tight match-up of Original Six clubs. Regulation ended with a 2-2 tie.
In a surprise ending, the Leafs’ William Nylander struck for the game-winner on a nifty backhand shot for the 3-2 win.
William Nylander scored on a penalty shot in OT to give Leafs a 3-2 win over Chicago – file photo courtesy of Lewis Bleiman
“It’s pretty nice,” Nylander said. “I’ve had a couple breakaways in the previous games too where I haven’t been able to score, so it’s pretty nice to put one in on a breakaway.”
The penalty shot was awarded after Nylander had been hooked by Duncan Keith after the opening face-off of the extra session.
“I think we just saw they lined up three across the red line, so we were able to get some offense right off the bat off the face-off,” Nylander said. “I think that was one of the main factors of us getting the penalty shot. I just thought I needed to throw a little harder fake on him so he’d bite on that one. I went on the backhand in the two previous breakaways I had, I don’t know actually why I went to the backhand, but third time’s the lucky charm.”
Mitchell Marner tied the game at 1-1 in the first period and Nazem Kadri gave the Leafs a brief 2-1 lead in the third period.
“They were fast, we were slow in the first,” Toronto coach Mike Babcock said. “They skated us into the ground, and it looked like [Jonathan] Toews and [Patrick] Kane still thought they should be the best players and we were just learning how to play. And then I thought we dug in and got playing better and, obviously, a big win for our hockey club. I don’t think it was pretty, but we found a way to get it done.”
Toronto improved to 27-18-5 and are 2-2-3 in their last seven.
“Sometimes on the road, you’ve got to wait it out a little bit and weather the storm. They’re a good Chicago team and a pretty electric building to start so road wins are never pretty, but a win’s a win,” Kadri said after the win.
The Hawks lost their fourth straight but picked up the loser’s point in the loss.
Frederik Andersen made 34 saves for the win.
Brent Seabrook gave Chicago an early 1-0 lead and Nick Schmaltz scored in the latter stages of the third to force the extra session.
“A lot better tonight, but obviously we want two points,” Schmaltz said. “Came out with one. Gotta regroup and get ready for tomorrow (against the Detroit Red Wings).”
Chicago dropped to 22-19-7 with the loss.
[WATCH: All Maple Leafs vs. Blackhawks highlights]
Jeff Glass took the loss despite a great performance on the night; he made 33 saves in the loss.
The Blackhawks were 1-4-1 on their homestand.
“It was a tough homestand, and when you look at it and you sum it all up points-wise, games that were valuable situations as far as keeping us in the race, and now we put ourselves in a tremendous hole. And then, hey, let’s try to get a little life out of tomorrow (at the Detroit Red Wings), but we certainly left a lot on the table here,” Chicago head coach Joel Quenneville said after the loss.
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