A relentless effort from the Blackhawks in the third period wasn’t enough, as a great effort from James Reimer kept the puck out of the net, securing a 3-2 win for the Maple Leafs Saturday night in Toronto. Brad Richards got his first goal in the Indian-head sweater, and Brent Seabrook tallied as well for the ‘Hawks, but it wasn’t enough.
Nazem Kadri opened the scoring in the first with a goal on one of the Leafs several odd-man rushes in the period. Richards tied the game later in the period on the powerplay, and the first period ended tied 1-1. In the second, Seabrook scored another power play goal, but just about 30 seconds later, James van Riemdsdyk scored to tie the game 2-2. In the third, a shot from Peter Holland squeezed through Corey Crawford for the eventual game-winner.
This wasn’t exactly the best game we’ve seen from several of the Blackhawks players. Johnny Oduya especially had a rough night, as he turned the puck over to JVR on the 2nd Leafs goal, and lost a battle behind the net to Nazem Kadri, who then set up Holland’s game-winner.
Duncan Keith also has seen better days, as he turned the puck over quite a bit and was also caught out of position a few times defensively. Turnovers have certainly been an issue for the Blackhawks this year, more so than we have seen in the past. It’s quite possible that this has led to some of the offensive struggles the ‘Hawks have had thus far. Hopefully both of these trends will turn around soon.
One bright spot from tonight’s game was the power play. Both goals the ‘Hawks scored came on the power play, which matched their power play goal total coming into the game. In spite of failing to score on a few man-up chances in the third, this is certainly something that can be looked at as positive, and hopefully it’s a turn towards continued improvement in those situations.
The Blackhawks take the ice next tomorrow night at 8 p.m., as they return home to take on the Winnipeg Jets.