For the first time since February 12, 2003, when Ed Belfour tended goal and Tie Domi scored for Toronto, the Maple Leafs beat the Blackhawks in regulation in Chicago.
22 years later, Tie’s son, Max, played one of his better games of the season. The third line scored twice, the Leafs‘ top defense pairing each scored a goal, and the Leafs swept the weekend with two regulation wins to retake first place in the Atlantic Division.
Your game in 10:
1. The Blackhawks played a really poor game in their 5-1 loss to Columbus last night, so they came out with some purpose in this one. Through the first six and a half minutes, shots were 6-1 Chicago, who carried the play early with zone time and point shots.
However, the best chance in the early going was off the rush the other way, as John Tavares made a nice seam pass to Pontus Holmberg, who drove wide before finding William Nylander on the far side, where he hit the post.
In the first period, the Leafs recorded just six shots on net, and Nick Robertson was responsible for three of them. Their entire top-six forward group did not register a shot on the net. But as the period went on, the team started to carry the play and wound up firing more shot attempts than the Blackhawks at five-on-five (19-17). They just didn’t get enough of them through traffic or get inside enough.
The other sequence of note for the Leafs was Holmberg plastering Ilya Mikheyev after he dangerously tripped up Morgan Rielly as Rielly rounded the net. Thankfully, Rielly wasn’t hurt and didn’t miss a shift, but it was a dangerous play with a real risk of injury.
2. In the dying minutes of the period, after the Blackhawks rushed up ice, Chris Tanev was called for cross-checking Landon Slaggert in front following a rebound. Tanev was surprised at the call — it looked like Slaggert was on his way down already — but he had two hands on his stick and extended, so it looked worse than it really was.
While the Blackhawks have struggled this season as a team, they quietly own the eighth-ranked PP in the league. For the first minute and change, the Leafs did a good job on the penalty kill and managing the Blackhawks’ power play, but with 10 seconds left in the period, Chicago started to work it around.
Ryan Donato popped up to the high slot as Mitch Marner pressured the half-wall, and Matthew Knies didn’t close out Donato at the top, leading to a one-timer in the high slot that went off Tyler Bertuzzi. As it bounced into the slot, Conor Timmins was really slow getting to the loose puck. Bertuzzi spun and hit the puck over to Teuvo Teravainen, who tapped it into an empty net.
Auston Matthews didn’t take a shift on the penalty kill — noteworthy, as he has been a top penalty killer for the team this season.
3. The second period started much like the first started, as the Blackhawks enjoyed a long stretch in the Leafs’ end, but the Leafs got rolling afterward. First, a good top-line shift featuring a strong net drive play down low by Knies led to a Marner one-timer in the slot. Then, a good fourth-line shift included a Steven Lorentz 2v1 where he hit his own broken stick on the ice. Then, Nylander won a great battle on a 1v2 forecheck as the Leafs changed lines; as he won the battle, the Leafs brought in fresh reinforcements, and Bobby McMann promptly drew a penalty.
The first unit struggled as Tavares lost multiple faceoffs, and they couldn’t execute any clean entries. On more than one occasion, they tried far-side rim passes to nobody. They were clearly out of sync.
When the second unit came on the ice, they started winning battles. First, Max Domi attempted a shot with traffic, but he went high with it, and the goalie gloved it. After the Blackhawks cleared, the Leafs simply dumped the puck in on the entry. McMann, who drew the penalty, won the race to the puck, drawing in both defenders and poking the puck to Domi, who immediately passed it backdoor to Nick Robertson. Robertson one-timed it in to tie the game.
4. After the Leafs scored, they kept rolling with a great fourth-line shift right from the next faceoff. They got it in deep, and Alex Steeves caused a turnover, leading to some zone time. Two shifts later, Domi ripped one off the crossbar.
The third line stayed out and ended up drawing an icing off a poor pass by Alec Martinez. After the top line immediately came on, Matthews won the draw to Chris Tanev, who flipped sides with Jake McCabe for the one-timer. Tanev teed him up, and he hammered it home.
Seth Jones appeared to screen his own goalie on it, but it was a good one-timer by McCabe. It was the exact same play McCabe scored on in Game 5 of the playoffs last season, although this shot went in on the other side of the net.
5. The Leafs continued to pour on the pressure after taking the lead. The Tavares line had a good shift as Tavares took a cross-ice pass and loaded up a wrist shot on a clean look. The fourth line generated another really good shift, hemming the Blackhawks in as McCabe took another dangerous point shot that the goalie didn’t see at all (the Blackhawk’s defense pairing was stuck on the ice for nearly three minutes on this sequence). Robertson then hit the post, and TJ Brodie cleared it off the line.
All in all, the Blackhawks went nearly 13 minutes without a shot on goal in the second until Nick Foligno walked Simon Benoit, who whiffed trying to throw a big hit. Benoit then turned it over instead of either getting it in deep or passing it to a wide-open forward in the middle of the ice, and the Blackhawks immediately countered, leading to a Philip Kurashev shot all alone in the slot.
On the next shift, Rielly iced the puck, leading to a long shift for his pairing. The shift afterward, Tavares iced it with the McCabe-Tanev pairing on the ice. The Leafs were hemmed in, and Tanev iced the puck. The Leafs got worked towards the end of the period, and yet…
6. The Leafs finally got fresh legs on, chipped it up the wall in their own end, and Domi won a race against Seth Jones before finding Robertson all alone in front for the second time.
Robertson buried his second goal of the night and 10th of the season with 14 seconds left. It’s a great play by Domi and another nice finish by Robertson — a much-needed offensive explosion for a third line that has generally struggled this season.
7. This looked like a really strong period for the Leafs overall, as they generally dominated play, scored three goals, and were about to take a two-goal lead into the third period against a woeful Blackhawks team. But the Blackhawks needed just eight seconds off the next faceoff to make it a one-goal game again.
Off the faceoff, every Leaf took their appropriate man; there was no real systemic breakdown, but Domi straight up got beat by Frank Nazar as he reached for the puck. Domi got toe-dragged around and fell, and Nazar walked in on a down-low 2v1. He sent it backdoor to Kurashev for a tap-in.
We don’t need to overthink this one; it’s a bad read by Domi to be so aggressive with little time left in the period. If he kept him wide, the clock was about to die. Instead, the Blackhawks score with seven seconds left, making it a game again. It’s particularly tough for Domi, who was enjoying an excellent game to that point.
8. After the Leafs drew an early power play, the top unit managed to work it around this time, but their timing was just a little off, and the Leafs couldn’t extend their lead. The Blackhawks got some momentum from the kill and started to mount some pressure down a goal, but ultimately, they couldn’t get inside to create anything too dangerous.
The Leafs started countering and just missed a few chances. The first was Holmberg whiffing on a one-timer in the slot. Then, Matthews and Marner just missed on a one-timer connection in the high slot.
Not to be denied, the Leafs eventually did extend their lead. The goal started with Steeves and Kampf both getting in on the forecheck, leading to a broken breakout attempt by the Blackhawks and a turnover. From there, the Leafs scored the type of goal they want to create more of.
Following the turnover, David Kampf bumped the puck back to the point, where Jake McCabe passed it cross-ice to his partner, Chris Tanev, and the Leafs got traffic to the net. Tanev had time and space, so he walked in and took it before shooting. The initial shot was stopped, but the rebound deflected off of old friend TJ Brodie and into the net for Tanev’s second goal of the season, as both members of the Leafs’ top pairing scored in this one.
9. Tanev’s goal all but cemented the game, but the Blackhawks still pulled their goalie to try to mount a comeback. These are important reps for a Leafs team that has given up the most 6v5 goals in the league.
They did a good job keeping the Blackhawks to the outside and getting in shooting lanes. Just like the night before, with the net empty, the Tavares line went out, and Nylander could have shot it himself, but he again passed it to Holmberg, basically banking it off of him and into the net. That’s Holmberg’s third goal in his last two games after scoring two goals the entire season before the Four Nations break.
The goal was challenged for offside, and it’s always worth repeating that I can’t believe we spend this much time micro-analyzing hockey plays for offsides. It’s not the spirit of the game, and instituting these reviews is one of the worst decisions the league has made in decades. After Chicago lost the challenge, they were awarded a penalty.
10. This was a tidy win for the Leafs overall. While the first period was a bit rocky, they imposed their will in the second and took over the game. Even when the Blackhawks clawed back within a goal, it never really felt in doubt. The Leafs eventually scored the insurance marker, and it was all academic from there.
Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner didn’t even see 18 minutes of ice time as the rest of the Leafs lineup elevated. Alex Steeves played a team-low 10:24, but he and his line were once again effective. John Tavares led all forwards at 20:15 (William Nylander was right behind him at 20:12).
On defense, the top four all played between 21:49 (McCabe) and 20:33 (Tanev) as the Leafs took care of business.
Game Flow: 5v5 Shot Attempts
Heat Map: 5v5 Shot Attempts
