Monday, 17 April 2017

NHL - Chicago Blackhawks @ Toronto Maple Leafs - Saturday, March 18, 2017


Ryan Hartman scored with 17 seconds left in overtime to give the Chicago Blackhawks a 2-1 win against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Air Canada Centre in a game I was at. The goal was upheld after it was reviewed to ensure the Blackhawks were onside. Panarin entered the zone before the puck but had control of it as he made the pass. Corey Crawford made 25 saves for the Blackhawks (46-20-5), who have won four in a row. He stopped Maple Leafs forward James van Riemsdyk on a breakaway 2:40 into overtime. Chicago has a five-point lead over the Minnesota Wild for first place in the Central Division. Minnesota lost 3-2 to the New York Rangers. Frederik Andersen made 37 saves for the Maple Leafs (32-23-15), who lead the New York Islanders by one point for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference. New York lost to the Columbus Blue Jackets 3-2 in overtime. The Blackhawks outshot the Maple Leafs 13-8 in the first period but the Maple Leafs took a 1-0 lead when Auston Matthews scored at 8:25. The goal, his 32nd, ended the rookie's seven-game point drought. The Maple Leafs nearly took a two-goal lead at 10:01 of the second period when William Nylander hit the crossbar with a wrist shot from the left faceoff dot. The Blackhawks tied it 1-1 less than a minute later when John Hayden put a shot past Andersen's glove from the slot at 10:51. It was Hayden's first NHL goal in his second game.

* Matthews and Nylander ran a give-and-go that resulted in Toronto's goal. Matthews passed to Nylander on the right wing and went to the net to tip the return pass by Crawford.
* Nylander's assist extended his NHL career-high point streak to seven games (one goal, six assists). … Matthews trails Winnipeg Jets forward Patrik Laine by one goal for the NHL rookie lead. … Kadri won 14 of 16 faceoffs (87.5 percent).
* Blackhawks forward Marian Hossa did not play because of a lower-body injury, but Quenneville did not rule him out for the game Sunday against the Colorado Avalanche.
* Chicago won at least one game in each of the seven NHL arenas in Canada this season.
* Toronto wore green-and-white uniforms to honor the Toronto St. Pats, their name from 1919-27 as part of their St Patrick's Day celebrations.


Hawks Quotes
"It was great, I was out there for a while, I was pretty tired, but I saw a break for a 2-on-1. [Artemi] Panarin made a good pass and I'm glad I wasn't offside." 
"He's always standing on his head, he keeps us in a lot of games and he always gives us a chance to win each night. We're lucky to have him back there. Once again, he stood on his head and made some big saves in overtime." Hartman said.
"We want to keep playing well. We didn't give up much tonight, the pace was pretty even in the game. Both teams had their turns but not a lot of turns. But hey, we'll see what plays out, we'll keep trying to push ahead and see how it goes."
"I liked him a lot [John Hayden, who played his last game for Yale University on March 11]; I thought he was really good in the first game and even better tonight. It was a good start to his career. I thought he had a lot of purpose; he made some decisions without the puck that were really good and effective. He made a great play on the goal. He's at the net, he finishes checks, and he has some pace to his game." Joel Quenneville said.


Leafs/St. Pats Quotes
"I thought it was a good game, it was tight, tight, tight. They had the puck lots, but in saying that, I didn't think we gave up quality chances at all. They're a good team, a veteran team. You're disappointed to lose; you'd like to win that game obviously." Mike Babcock said.
"It was awesome. It was pretty surreal, especially in this building with this environment." Hayden said.
"You always take the points you can get and run with them, especially with the race that we're in. Obviously we know what's going on in the games around us. That was a huge point for us. We needed that one. We'll regroup and get back after it Monday." James van Riemsdyk said.

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