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Blue Christmas: Maple Leafs 3, Blackhawks 2

Another late Hawks lead vanished.

Posted on by L_B_R
Credit: Nick Turchiaro-Imagn Images

The Chicago Blackhawks squandered a two-goal lead, allowing three unanswered goals in the final 10 minutes — including two of them just eight seconds apart — to fall 3–2 to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday in Canada.

The Blackhawks opened the scoring midway through the first period. After Dominic Toninato won a faceoff, Wyatt Kaiser picked up the puck, skated in, and beat Joseph Woll with a slick wrister from the high slot to give the Blackhawks a 1–0 lead.

Jason Dickinson looked to double the Blackhawks advantage at 11:27 when he jammed home a loose puck, but the Maple Leafs successfully challenged for goaltender interference and the goal was overturned.

Dickinson made sure it counted just over three minutes later, though, scoring a shorthanded goal to put the Blackhawks up 2–0. William Nylander turned the puck over at the offensive blue line, Louis Crevier moved it quickly to Ilya Mikheyev, and Mikheyev set up Dickinson on the rush for the finish.

The second period came and went without a goal, but the Maple Leafs pulled within one about 10 minutes into the third. After a faceoff win by Auston Matthews, Oliver Ekman-Larsson fired a point shot through traffic that deflected off Crevier and past Spencer Knight to make it 2–1.

Chicago then unraveled late, allowing Toronto to score twice in eight seconds with under four minutes remaining to put them in the loser column.

First, Matthews tied it 2–2 on the power play with 3:08 left, stripping the puck from Mikheyev behind the net before sniping a shot glove-side from below the right hashmarks.

Then Dakota Joshua put Toronto ahead for good, beating Crevier to the rebound created by Troy Stecher’s shot from the neutral zone to seal a 3–2 loss for the Blackhawks.

Notes

After another rough weekend in which the Blackhawks dropped back-to-back games, they needed to start on time against the Maple Leafs and carry a complete performance from puck drop to final horn. Unfortunately, they fell short of that standard.

The first period seesawed a bit in terms of momentum, though it was a fairly low-event frame. That ended up being a theme throughout the game, as both teams battled and traded possession without generating a high volume of meaningful shots on net. At 5-on-5, the Maple Leafs finished the opening period with a slight edge in shot attempts (16–14), but the Blackhawks were better at getting pucks through (8–6) and had the better chances, controlling 57.13 percent of the expected goals. Chicago was rewarded for that quality-over-quantity approach with a 5-on-5 goal, and the penalty kill chipped in as well. It was far from the Blackhawks’ best period of the season, but it was effective — and given recent results, one most people would happily take.

The Blackhawks controlled the puck well early in the second period, even if it still didn’t translate into much in the way of chance volume. Shot attempts (11–9) favored Chicago, but expected goals tilted toward Toronto (32.22 percent Blackhawks). To further emphasize how low-event this game was, the two teams combined for just 11 shots on goal and eight scoring chances in nearly 17 minutes of 5-on-5 play. For comparison, the Blackhawks recorded eight scoring chances in a single period against Detroit, even if none of them found the back of the net. The concern was that Toronto began to push in the latter half of the period — a development that felt like foreshadowing for what was to come in the third.

When things go wrong for the Blackhawks lately, they tend to snowball, and that’s exactly what happened in the third period. Slowly but steadily, the Maple Leafs grew more confident with the puck, spent extended time in the offensive zone, and applied consistent pressure. With how much Chicago was sitting back, the first goal against felt inevitable. To their credit, the Blackhawks did generate a few chances of their own afterward, but the play remained loose and disjointed — the kind of environment Toronto was able to exploit. A poorly timed penalty opened the door for the tying goal, and a lack of readiness immediately afterward cost Chicago both the lead and the game. In the final period at 5-on-5, the Blackhawks managed just 42.86 percent of the shot attempts and 39.44 percent of the expected goals.

But the stat line that stands out the most to me is that the Blackhawks did not record a single shot on goal in the final six minutes, even after the Maple Leafs took the lead. They actually managed just two shot attempts in that span: a Ryan Greene attempt that was blocked shortly before the Matthews goal and a missed shot by Nick Lardis in the waning seconds. The 300 level had it right for once: shoot the puck!

Coach Jeff Blashill agreed with that sentiment post-game:

The blowout losses are frustrating enough, but this type of defeat feels particularly aggravating because it came after the Blackhawks played well for large stretches of the game. This is still very much a young team in the middle of a rebuild, and nights where they struggle to close things out are inevitable. Still, there have been too many losses like this lately, layered on top of the blowouts from the past month. Even in a rebuild, the goal is progress — and it doesn’t always have to come in the form of wins. Hopefully, these are growing pains rather than a pattern that lingers.

And not to sound alarmist, but the recent string of poor play has absolutely sunk the Blackhawks in the standings. After a solid start to the season, there was some hope Chicago fans wouldn’t be spending much time looking up draft profiles, but instead, the Blackhawks currently sit with the fifth-best lottery odds based on points percentage and are just three points away from last place in the NHL. Eek.

The final goal against was partially the result of an uncharacteristic rebound from Knight and some miscommunication between him and Crevier, but this loss was very much not on Knight. His expected goals saved above expected finished at minus-0.35, which is essentially negligible, and the number is slightly skewed by the overall low volume of chances in the game. Knight will want that one back, but it would have helped if the group in front of him had shut things down defensively to close the game out. They’ve done it before — they just haven’t found any consistency doing so. Knight also made several strong saves earlier in the game to keep the Blackhawks in control as long as they were.

The lines were very consistent with four getting between eight minutes and almost 13 minutes together, one of the most evenly rolled game in quite a while.

Frank Nazar’s line with Tyler Bertuzzi and Andre Burakovsky led the team in time on ice. While shot attempts were fairly even (12–11 in favor of the Maple Leafs), the Blackhawks struggled to generate quality when that trio was on the ice, finishing with just 26.82 percent of the expected goals. Nazar was initially matched against the Matthews line in the first period, and it did not go well. In roughly 4:20 of ice time, the Blackhawks were out-attempted 7–0. Whether it was an adjustment from Blashill or simply the result of Toronto’s frequent line shuffling as the game progressed, those matchups changed, and Nazar began seeing more of the Maple Leafs’ second and third lines — primarily John Tavares and Nicolas Roy. Against those matchups, the Nazar line performed much better: they controlled nearly 75 percent of the shot attempts and over 70 percent of the expected goals in nearly five minutes against Tavares, for example.

Individually in all situations, Nazar finished with a team-high six shot attempts and five scoring chances, along with the second-most shots on goal (three). He also had some strong defensive moments, particularly in the second period, and he was especially good on the penalty kill. But despite this overall solid play from Nazar, at some point, the Blackhawks really need him to start scoring — or setting up his teammates more. Burakovsky posted a 3–1–1 line in shot attempts, shots on goal, and scoring chances, while Bertuzzi finished at 2–1–1 in the same categories.

The Blackhawks other top line with Dickinson, Mikheyev, and Teuvo Teravainen fared a bit worse when it came to shot attempts (41.18 percent) but did well in terms of expected goals (52.61 percent). As expected, Blashill tried to throw this line out against Matthews as much as possible, and they did a great job, hitting nearly 65 percent for possession and quality chances. The lines’ overall numbers are down slightly because Tavares’ group got more attempts but not necessarily scoring chances when against Dickinson. At 5-on-5, Mikheyev led the team in attempts (5) and shots on goal (4). Interestingly, like Nazar, many of this trio’s best chances came away from 5-on-5 play: Dickinson and Mikeyev obviously combined to score while shorthanded and Teravainen generated more offensive opportunities on special teams (3 attempts, 3 shots, and 2 scoring chances).

The Kids Line had a mixed-bag outing tonight: basically breaking even for attempts (9-8) and shots on goal (5-5) but limited to just 15.93 percent of the expected goals. They did combine for some nice looks, don’t get me wrong, but sometimes they going a bit too fast and were too quick to get rid of the puck. The clip below shows a good chance for Moore after a beautiful pass by Lardis, but it might have been better for Moore to get in a bit closer, where he’s had better success with scoring. Greene was the least effective offensive player in this group as none of his three attempts made it through on net. Again, some of it seemed like he was rushing his shots instead of waiting for a clear shooting lane. Bright spots for sure, but definitely still work in progress for everyone here.

The last line for the Blackhawks with Toninato, Ryan Donato, and Colton Dach posted some of the best stats of the night: 50 percent of shot attempts and 61.84 percent of expected goals — but let’s be honest, it’s hard to remember them doing much together. Toninato made an impact early on the opening goal, but that was about it. Donato didn’t register a shot on goal, and Dach and Toninato had just one each. Kind of blah.

On the blue line, Kaiser stood out again, generating strong transition and breakout plays that helped drive offense while remaining steady defensively. Partnered primarily with Matt Grzelcyk, the top pairing outperformed the Grzelcyk–Artyom Levshunov duo from previous games: when Kaiser and Grzelcyk were on the ice, the Blackhawks out-attempted the Leafs 13–5, out-shot them 7–3, and controlled 79.65 percent of the expected goals. Not surprising that Kaiser led the team with 22:39 of ice time — still impressive considering he doesn’t see power-play minutes. When Levshunov is back, reuniting him with Kaiser may be ideal — or at least someone other than Grzelcyk if the pair isn’t being sheltered.

The rest of the defensive corps held up fine for the first 50 or so minutes, much like the rest of the team, but defensive breakdowns and a lack of consistent coverage ultimately caught up to them. Crevier and Alex Vlasic took the brunt of it by the end, while Ethan Del Mastro and Connor Murphy were somewhere in the middle. Del Mastro returned for his first game since Oct. 7, and aside from one rough turnover in the second period, he was mostly solid. Levshunov is likely back next game, but I wouldn’t mind seeing Del Mastro get more games — it’s just tough to know who to sit.

Game Charts

Three Stars

  1. Auston Matthews (TOR) — 1 goal, 1 assist
  2. Dakota Joshua (TOR) — 1 goal
  3. Wyatt Kaiser (CHI) — 1 goal

What’s Next

The Blackhawks continue on their Canadian roadtrip with a stop in Montreal to take on the Canadiens on Thursday night at 6 p.m.

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