The Chicago Blackhawks continued their road trip through Canada with a nationally televised matchup with their Original Six brethren, the Toronto Maple Leafs, at Scotiabank Arena. In goal, the Hawks started Petr Mrazek against Toronto’s Ilya Samsonov.
— It took the Leafs just nine seconds to open the scoring. Defenseman Morgan Rielly found William Nylander, who skated in alone after Jake McCabe fell at the blue line, and the 26-year-old deked Mrazek and scored his 30th of the season.
— The Blackhawks answered 53 seconds later when Sam Lafferty intercepted a pass in the slot, skated in alone and lifted a backhand shot that trickled past Samsonov for his ninth of the season to tie the game.
— Toronto regained the lead when a face-off win led to Rasmus Sandin sniping one from the right half boards that deflected in off Connor Murphy. For Sandin, it was his fourth of the season at the 8:14 mark to give the Leafs a 2–1 advantage.
— The Leafs took a 3–1 lead when Auston Matthews, who returned from a five-game absence with a knee injury, snapped a wrist shot from the right circle past Mrazek at 11:21 of the first.
— The Hawks opened the second period by cutting the Leafs’ lead to 3–2 just 46 seconds into the frame. Max Domi forced a neutral zone turnover, skated in to the Toronto zone and fed Philipp Kurashev, who one-timed a shot past Samsonov for his eighth of the season.
— John Tavares gave the Leafs a two-goal edge again off a no-look pass from Alexander Kerfoot, who was behind the Hawks’ net. For Tavares, it was his 24th of the season and gave Toronto a 4–2 lead at 7:37 of the second.
— The Leafs extended their lead to 5–2 when Conor Timmins scored his second of the season with a one-timer from the blue line at 16:07 of the second.
— The scoring barrage would finally end as the Maple Leafs skated away with a 5–2 win over Chicago. Samsonov made 27 saves for the win.
The Hawks continue their road trip through Canada on Friday night when they visit Alex DeBrincat and the Ottawa Senators. Puck drop is at 6 p.m. CST.