The Chicago Blackhawks continued their season-opening road trip on Monday night at Scotiabank Arena against the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Original Six matchup marked the beginning of a new chapter in their storied rivalry as No. 1 overall picks Connor Bedard and Auston Matthews met on the ice for the first time. The goaltending matchup featured Arvid Soderblom for the Blackhawks against Toronto’s Joseph Woll.
After a scoreless first period, the Blackhawks struck first when Andreas Athanasiou found MacKenzie Entwistle in the slot, who used the defenseman as a screen and snapped one past Woll to give the Hawks a 1–0 lead. For Entwistle, who was making his regular season debut, it was his first of the season at 2:59 of the second.
BIG MAC 🍔 pic.twitter.com/OMFrkia0Mq
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The Leafs tied it when William Nylander skated into the slot and dropped it off to John Tavares, who snapped one high glove side for his first of the season at the 5:14 mark, leveling the score at 1–1.
The Hawks broke the tie when Alex Vlasic from his own end made a beautiful tape-to-tape pass to Corey Perry past the center line, who went in alone and scored stick side for his first as a Blackhawk and 418th of his career. The Hawks took a 2–1 lead at 14:46.
COREY IN THE HOUSE pic.twitter.com/5AzHjpjFUe
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Chicago extended its lead to 3–1 by scoring on the power play for the first time of the season. Kevin Korchinski skated through the neutral zone and dropped a pass to Athanasiou, who drove in and flipped a pass to Tyler Johnson, who went in alone and snapped in his third of the young season at 17:05. For Korchinski, it was his first career point. The Blackhawks took the two-goal lead into the second intermission.
What a play 🔥 pic.twitter.com/OMa4LIYn34
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Trailing by two, Toronto head coach Sheldon Keefe pulled the goaltender with just under four minutes in regulation. The Leafs generated multiple high-quality chances, but Soderblom stood strong. Taylor Hall appeared to have iced the game with an empty-net goal with 54.1 seconds remaining, however, the play was challenged, and after review, the call was overturned and ruled offside. With 6.2 seconds remaining, the Leafs appeared to have cut it to 3–2, however, after a coach’s challenge by Blackhawks bench boss Luke Richardson, the play was deemed to be offside and the goal was waved off, so the time was reset back to 51 seconds.
With 13.3 seconds remaining, the Leafs went on the power play after Jason Dickinson was penalized for cross checking. The Hawks quickly retrieved the puck and Taylor Raddysh fired it into the empty net with six seconds left for his first of the season to increase the lead to 4–1 and seal it for the visitors.
Analysis
After a grueling stretch to open the season with three games in five nights, all on the road, the Blackhawks did not hold a morning skate on Monday and it paid off. The Hawks looked much more energized than in their loss on Saturday in Montreal. Soderblom was clearly the best player on the ice for Chicago, as he made several big time saves. Vlasic stood out as having had a strong outing and has established himself as a legitimate NHLer at this point. On the flip side, Wyatt Kaiser again struggled in the game, further raising questions about if he is really ready to handle NHL action.
The Blackhawks return to action on Thursday night in Denver against the Colorado Avalanche. Puck drop is at 9:30 p.m. CDT on ESPN with the radio call on WGN 720.
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