The Blackhawks exploded out of the gate with four goals in the first period before holding off a furious really by the Maple Leafs for a 5-4 win Wednesday at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto.
Brendan Perlini scored his seventh goal in his last six games and added two assists for Chicago, who won its fourth straight and is now four points out of the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference with 71 points. Brandon Saad had a goal and an assist and Dylan Strome had two helpers.
A shared effort between Corey Crawford and Collin Delia, Crawford was tasked with just 17 saves in the first two periods before being pulled due to flu-like symptoms. Delia made 27 saves on 30 shots in the third period alone.
Duncan Keith opened the contest with his fifth goal of the season at 3:19 of the first on a slap shot that deflected off William Nylander’s stick and beat Frederik Andersen’s five-hole. Perlini made it 2-0 when his shot bounced off Nic Petan’s stick, and Dominik Kahun gave the Blackhawks a 3-0 edge on a 2-on-1 with Patrick Kane, who earned his 99th point of the season with an assist.
Kane is now just seven shy of his career high of 106 points during his Hart Trophy season in 2015-16.
Brandon Saad used his backhand to get the puck past a sprawling Andersen, who was replaced by Elmhurst native Garret Sparks. It was the second straight game Andersen was pulled.
After Alex DeBrincat’s goal made it 5-0 at 12:32 in the second period, Toronto’s Andreas Johnsson tipped one past Crawford to get the Maple Leafs on the scoreboard with less than 2 minutes to play in the middle frame.
Give the Maples Leafs an inch, and they’ll take a mile.
Auston Matthews grabbed a loose puck and tapped it in off Strome from behind the net at 7:57, Morgan Rielly fired a shot from the blue line on the lone power play of the game at 10:55, and John Tavares snuck the puck past Delia to make it a 5-4 game with 1:31 left in the third with Sparks pulled for an extra attacker.
Toronto continued to put on the pressure late, but Delia came up with a multiple big-time saves. Marcus Kruger won a key defensive-zone faceoff with 19.6 seconds left after Jonathan Toews was tossed out of the draw to steal the two points for the Blackhawks.
Up next
The Blackhawks visit the Canadiens on Saturday in Montreal.
3 Stars
- Brendan Perlini (CHI) – 1 goal, 2 assists
- Dylan Stome (CHI) – 2 assists
- Mitch Marner (TOR) – 2 assists