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Beautiful Day: Blackhawks 3, Maple Leafs 2

An Original Six win at the UC on Saturday night.

Posted on by L_B_R
Credit: Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images

The Chicago Blackhawks handed the Toronto Maple Leafs their fifth straight loss with a 3–2 win on Saturday night at the United Center.

The Blackhawks got on the board first at 11:05 in the first period. Artyom Levshunov weaved his way around traffic before dishing cross-ice to Ryan Greene, who buried it from the bottom of the circle.

The Maple Leafs pulled even with 48 seconds left in the first period, tying the game 1–1. Nicholas Robertson capitalized on a loose puck created by a John Tavares wrap-around attempt, lifting it over Spencer Knight to get Toronto on the board.

Morgan Rielly gave the Maple Leafs a 2-1 lead at 9:37 of the second period. He corralled a deflected Oliver Ekman-Larsson shot in front and roofed it to Knight’s glove side.

Teuvo Teravainen re-tied the game 2-2 at 5:12 after Frank Nazar chipped the puck in deep and, while battling along the right boards, slipped a backhand pass to Teravainen cutting through the slot. Teravainen finished it off with a slick backhand-to-forehand move to beat the goaltender.

Colton Dach broke the tie with 4:25 left in the third after deflecting in a shot from the right point by Louis Crevier. The goal put the Blackhawks up 3-2 and was the game-winner.

Notes

The Blackhawks actually had some jump to start this one, stringing together a quite a few stretches where they controlled play. They slipped a bit after the first goal — either easing off or simply letting Toronto grab the wheel — and by the time the Leafs scored, it wasn’t surprising. Even with the Blackhawks being out-attempted 22–17 and outshot 14–10, the first didn’t feel particularly lopsided until maybe the last couple minutes.

The second period was more of the usual middle-frame disappointment, though it wasn’t anywhere near their worst of the season. The Blackhawks special teams were legitimately sharp, which made the period feel above average compared to many second periods this season, but they couldn’t parlay that into anything meaningful at 5-on-5. Still, credit where due: the Blackhawks kept scoring chances close (9–7) even while the rest of the numbers leaned Toronto’s way and only allowed one goal — even if it probably shouldn’t have counted.

(I’m not going to touch on the high-stick, but just leave this here:)

Early in the third, it looked like more of the same. The Leafs came out of their power play with some push but the Blackhawks made a mistake hurt and tied things at two, and that seemed to flip the switch. Chicago earned a power play of their own, rode that wave, and eventually scored the go-ahead goal. Yes, the Leafs poured it on afterward, putting the Blackhawks back on the wrong side of the shot metrics overall (18–15 attempts, 10–7 shots on goal, and 36.89 percent expected goals), but that’s score effects for you. And to their credit, the Blackhawks weathered the Leafs’ late storm quite well.

Overall, this game was a solid effort, even if it was another night spent chasing both quantity of possession (43.43 percent of shot attempts) along with quality (35.63 percent expected goals). Still, the Blackhawks are squeezing everything they can out of this roster and finding ways to stay competitive through a high work ethic and the players vibing off of each other well — and that’s the kind of habit you can actually build something on.

Coach Jeff Blashill even made a “6-7” joke post-game, so you know the vibes are an all-time high right now:

There was a lot to like about this one offensively: 14 different Blackhawks had at least one scoring chance at 5-on-5, which was one of the better team-wide spreads this season. Oliver Moore led the way with four, even if only two actually made it on net. He’s doing everything right positionally, the finish just hasn’t arrived yet. If he ends up following the Nazar trajectory from last year — slow start, then the dam bursts — the Blackhawks will happily take it. Right behind him were Greene, Dach, Ryan Donato, and Landon Slaggert with two scoring chances each, meaning four of the top five chance generators are 23 or younger. Not too shabby.

The Leafs, unsurprisingly, made “contain Connor Bedard” their main 5-on-5 strategy and were mostly successful: his line with Andre Burakovsky and Ryan Greene was out-attempted 13–7, outshot 5–2, and held to just 26.03 percent of expected goals. But they couldn’t hold Bedard back on the power play. He didn’t score, but he set season highs in attempts (10), put five on goal, generated three scoring chances, and teed up quality looks for teammates all over the ice.

Only one line for the Blackhawks finished on the positive side of things in terms of shot statistics and played at least five minutes: the Nazar line with Moore and Teravainen. The shot attempts were even (9-9) when they were on the ice, but the Blackhawks had the edge in shots on goal (8-6) and expected goals (58.26 percent). That line’s goal was also one of the prettiest of the season: great puck protection and vision from Nazar, and a slick finish from Teravainen. And after missing time with an injury, it was encouraging to see Nazar pick up right where he left off.

On the back end, Levshunov put together one of his stronger offensive outings of the year. He registered five attempts, three on goal, and four scoring chances — arguably his best shooting performance so far. His assist on Greene’s goal was exactly the sort of thing we’ve been waiting for from Levshunov. His recent points have been fine, but not always memorable — this one was unmistakably his. From the controlled skating (even after the mini wipeout), to the decision to attack directly, to the slick final pass, it was the full package. He clearly felt good about his game, too, because he had a handful of other impressive moments scattered throughout.

Defensively, Levshunov still leans heavily on raw instincts rather than structure, but his abovea verage skating and physical tools let him get away with it more often than not lately. He led the team in ice time at 21:34, and while Blashill still sheltered him in terms of matchups, that’s still a lot of minutes and he only had a 50 percent offensive-zone start rate, one of his lowest this season.

Meanwhile, Alex Vlasic and Louis Crevier drew the toughest assignments. Vlasic, in particular, saw over 11 minutes against Toronto’s top line of Tavares, Robertson, and William Nylander. Blashill leaned on him hard to neutralize that trio, and Vlasic handled it impressively: when he was out there, Chicago controlled the attempts (63.64 percent), shots on goal (57.14 percent), and expected goals (57.29 percent).

Lastly, Nick Foligno left the game after taking a puck off the hand late in the second period. Blashill said afterward that he’ll be out for a while.

Game Charts

Three Stars

  1. Teuvo Teravainen (CHI) – 1 goal
  2. Arytom Levshunov (CHI) – 1 assist
  3. Colton Dach (CHI) – 1 goal

What’s Next

The Blackhawks have two days off before hosting the Calgary Flames Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.

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