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Home Opener Recap: Leafs Beat The Blackhawks 7-6 in OT

  
Home Opener Recap: Leafs Beat The Blackhawks 7-6 in OT
Photo by Chase Agnello-Dean/NHLI via Getty Images

No rest for the wicked, as the Chicago Blackhawks had no time to celebrate their exciting overtime win in St. Louis, the previous night.  The team travelled home to meet the Toronto Maple Leafs at the United Center for the Blackhawks 2018 season home opener.

Going against Joel Quenneville‘s usual routines, Goalie Cam Ward got his third straight start in net (including a back-to-back) for the Blackhawks, facing Elmhurst native Garret Sparks for the Leafs.  Also going against the usual routine Quenneville made a lineup change.  Andreas Martinsen was in the press box for the first time of the year with Brandon Davidson, as John Hayden took Martinsen’s spot.

This was your Blackhawks starting lineup:
Alex DeBrincat– Jonathan Toews – Dominik Kahun
Brandon Saad – Nick Schmaltz – Patrick Kane
Chris Kunitz – Artem Anisimov – David Kampf
Marcus Kruger – Luke Johnson – John Hayden

Duncan Keith – Henri Jokiharju
Brandon Manning – Brent Seabrook
Erik Gustafsson – Jan Rutta

Not to be overlooked, the Blackhawks had their “red carpet” walk, and introduction ceremony for the home opener.  The very special highlight of the night was the Stan Mikita memorial that was put together to honor the fallen former captain and all-time Blackhawks great.

As with all special ceremonies, there was still a game to be played.  A game that could have given the Blackhawks a three game winning streak to open the season.  In their way was the NHL’s “new hotness“, the Toronto Maple Leafs.  The “old busted” Blackhawks seemed to be defying the odds, but their first major test was issued. They hung in for the ride.

The emotion from the Mikita memorial carried right into the play of the Blackhawks. Brandon Saad, and John Hayden both had excellent chances to open the game against the young Leafs netminder. Just about everyone in attendance and watching on TV, including the visiting team, was surprised when the Hawks jumped out to a 7-2 shot advantage in the first five minutes of the game.

With exactly nine minutes gone in the first period, Jonathan Toews continued his red hot play to open the season, giving his team a 1-0 lead. After a Duncan Keith shot was (surprise!) blocked, Dominik Kahun picked up the loose puck and flung it at the net. Toews located the puck and redirected it down, into the net. After a short look from the Toronto war room the goal was confirmed. This was Toews’ fifth goal in under three full regular season games.

The Blackhawks jumped out to a 2-0 lead just a couple of minutes later. The red-hot line of Debrincat-Toews-Kahun played a nice little game of tic-tac-toe that ended with Debrincat slamming home a backdoor pass into an open net. This play was certainly worthy of the evening highlight reels. This goal marked Dominik Kahun’s second point of the period and of his young NHL career.

The good fortune did not last long for the home team. Toronto took advantage of some sloppy play by the Blackhawks defense which resulted in Kasperi Kapanen getting a break-a-way from the blue line in. Kapanen made pretty easy work of Cam Ward, cutting the Hawks lead to 2-1.

Just thirty-four seconds after the Kapanen goal, young superstar Auston Matthews erased the Blackhawks two-goal lead. Other than the Blackhawks turnover in their own end, there was nothing of note on the goal. Just a dirty goal, from a dirty area.

The period ended with the Blackhawks leading in shots 14-8. A better window into the action of the first period was the high danger chances, which were tied at seven a piece.

Just over four minutes into the second period, a failed Alex Debrincat clearing attempt turned into the Leafs’ third goal of the game. Debrincat had a chance to clear the Blackhawks zone and seemed to hesitate. That hesitation led to the puck softly sliding to defenseman Morgan Rielly, who let a shot go towards the Blackhawks net.  On the way to the net the puck changed direction off Zach Hyman and landed at the feet of John Tavares.  Tavares buried puck for a 3-2 Leafs lead.

A couple of minutes after the Leafs took the lead, the Blackhawks fourth line answered the bell. Henri Jokiharju sent a long shot from the point on net that Sparks saved. John Hayden found the rebound and jammed it past the Toronto goalie. The puck barely slid over the goal line. The war room in Toronto took a look at this goal but it stood, as well.

Two minutes after the Hayden goal, the Leafs snagged the lead back on a powerplay goal by John Tavares, his second of the night. Patrick Kane took the holding penalty which put the Leafs on the man advantage. Thirty-two seconds after the powerplay began, the Blackhawks were fishing the puck out of their own net. Tavares tipped a long Mitch Marner shot through Cam Ward.

It seemed as though the Blackhawks had a major opportunity to tie the game back up with a four-minute powerplay. Unfortunately, we were talking about the historically anemic Blackhawks powerplay. They generated exactly zero shots on net in those following four minutes.

As a result, the teams finished the second period with the Leafs leading 4-3 and the teams tied in shots at 21. With all the action, there were only four high danger chances between the two teams (two a piece).

Just over two minutes into the third period, the Blackhawks were able to pull even with the Leafs. Defenseman Brandon Manning took a pass from Brent Seabrook and unleashed a long shot towards a screened Garret Sparks. The Artem Anisimov screen was enough to distract the Leafs netminder, and the puck was in the back of the net.

Once the score was tied, it seemed as though the pace of the game seemed to slow down to a manageable speed…

Until the 10:30 mark of the third period, when John Tavares completed his hat-trick. The Saad-Schmaltz-Kane line could not hold possession in the neutral zone leaving Erik Gustafsson and Jan Rutta to attempt to start the rush from the Blackhawks end. After a couple of false starts, Mitch Marner nearly caught Tavares breaking into the zone for a nice cross-ice goal. Instead, the puck rattled around at the half-boards and eventually ended up on the stick of Tavares again. He turned and snapped a shot over Cam Ward’s right shoulder to give his team a 5-4 lead.

Both teams turned the intensity up to “11” in the final five minutes of regulation. The Leafs had a majority of the good scoring chances but Chicago was not without a couple of their own.

Finally, with a minute and thirty seconds remaining, Patrick Kane decided to take the shot himself and beat Sparks from a tight angle. The game was tied and everyone in the arena thought this game was going to overtime.

It was going to overtime, but not just yet.

Less than thirty seconds after Kane ties the game, Auston Matthews picked up a puck that bounced off a group of players and rolled towards the slot area in front of Ward. He snapped the puck by a startled Blackhawks netminder.

Matthews’ Team USA teammate, Patrick Kane, had a little game of trash talking to throw back to the young Leafs forward who had given a “let me hear you” celebration after his goal.

Thirty seconds after Matthews gave the Leafs their lead, Henri Jokiharju set the plate for a Patrick Kane one-timer that Sparks just whiffed on. After the goal, Kane gave an entertaining little “let me hear you” celebration right back at Matthews.

NOW, the game was going to overtime.

It only took Toronto nineteen seconds to win the game, on a very stoppable Morgan Rielly shot that Cam Ward gave up. Shots finished 34-31 in favor of the Leafs.  The Blackhawks will have three days off and play the Minnesota Wild Thursday at the United Center.

Pluses

  • What more needs to be said about the start of Jonathan Toews.  He is making a lot of meatballs eat their words.  I know I speak for all Hawks fans when I say that I hope to see a lot more of this play.
  • John Hayden had an alright game.  He got himself a goal in the dirty area, but had a pretty clear path for a partial break-a-way in the third period and melted into a puddle of goo.
  • While I mention the defense below, at least the offense is keeping the games close.  Six goals on 31 shots is more than admirable.

Minuses

  • The power play is hysterically bad.  Something has to give.  They just cannot realistically be this bad for this long with this list of talent on their roster.
  • I know Brandon Manning scored a goal, but watching him in his own end must give Cam Ward a panic attack.
  • That said, this entire defensive corp is scary bad in their own end.  Keith and Jokiharju have been “OK“, and the rest is a complete crapshoot.
  • There were 13 goals scored on 64 shots which is sub-.800 goaltending.  That is not good enough for either team.
  • Tell me all you want about possession, Corsi or Fenwick but that third line is “just there“.  They don’t do much especially well.  They are not especially dangerous or fast.  Possession does no good if it is not resulting in goals.
  • I know goal scoring is fun and this is what the fans supposedly want but if the Blackhawks want to keep up at this pace, they will eventually run out of steam.  They are one of the older teams in the NHL (tied for third oldest) and they cannot have track meet style games all season.

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