In Toronto, the Chicago Blackhawks; season continued its miserable slide on Wednesday night, in a 5-2 loss to the Maple Leafs.
The Maple Leas took a 3-1 lead in the first period and coasted to the win.
Auston Matthews hit for a goal and two points in his return to thee lineup following a knee sprain.
“[I felt] not too bad,” Matthews said. “I think obviously the adrenaline kicks in and stuff. I think my energy faded a little bit throughout the game, but I think that’s kind of to be expected. But for the most part, I felt pretty good.”
Ilya Samsonov made 27 saves in the Toronto win.
“Anytime we made some mistakes or some things didn’t go our way, we didn’t let it snowball,” Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe said. “We didn’t let it get away on us, we brought it back pretty good, so all in all I thought we did what we needed to do tonight.
“Frankly speaking, it’s a game we’re not going to evaluate too much in terms of anything good, anything bad. We’re going to wash it, move on, enjoy a day off tomorrow and get ready for [the] Montreal [Canadiens on Saturday].”
The Maple Leafs improved to 33-14-8.
William Nylander got the offense rolling for Toronto when he scored in the first period for a 1-0 lead.
Sam Lafferty tied for the Blackhawks, 1-1.
Rasmus Sandin and Matthews screed for the 3-1 advantage to the Maple Leafs headed to the middle frame.
“I think he’s just all over it and just the consistency factor has been really great to see,” Matthews said of Nylander. “He’s just all over it every single game, he’s moving his feet and it’s just been a lot of fun to watch. It’s a treat to play with him.”
The Blackhawks dropped to 16-32-5.
“I thought they obviously came out guns a-blazing,” Chicago coach Luke Richardson said. “An unfortunate bounce for [Jake] McCabe, catching an edge and he went down on the first goal, but I thought we reacted well, but then another bounce [off Connor Murphy‘s stick]. I thought our guys pushed back after two tough bounces, but they really came out skating in the first half of the game.
“Our guys fought to the end, they were pushing, there was no give-up, guys were doing all the right things. It’s just that’s a big team, and when you get behind early and you’re chasing it the whole game, that’s what we tried to avoid.”
In the second period, the Blackhawks got one back on a goal from Philipp Kurashev, 46 seconds into the period to make it 3-2, but Toronto replied with a goal from John Tavares for a 4-2 lead.
At 16:07 of the second, Conor Timmins, added a marker for the 5-2 score.
“That was pretty cool,” Timmins said. “It was my first one at home and Matthews made a nice pass, and I was just lucky enough to get it through a screen. So, it was a cool feeling.”
Petr Mrazek made 37 saves in the Hawks loss.
“It’s just a matter of calming the storm,” Chicago’s Max Domi said. “I thought Lafferty did a great job of that with a beautiful goal, but then a combination of us sitting back a little too much and them executing at a pretty high level.”
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