On Sunday, February 23rd, the United Center played host to a contest of contrasting momentum, with the Maple Leafs securing a 5-2 victory over the Blackhawks, extending Toronto’s winning streak to two games while Chicago’s slide continued to three. Nicholas Robertson punctuated Toronto’s offensive surge with a pair of goals, contributing significantly to the Maple Leafs’ decisive victory. Teuvo Teravainen and Philipp Kurashev each found the back of the net for the Blackhawks. The Maple Leafs head to Boston to continue their four-game road trip, while the Blackhawks will be at Delta Center to take on the Utah Hockey Club on Tuesday, February 25th.
Toronto Maple Leafs Lineup:
Knies – Matthews – Marner
Holmberg – Tavares – Nylander
McMann – Domi – Robertson
Lorentz – Kampf – Steeves
Rielly – Ekman-Larsson
McCabe – Tanev
Benoit – Timmins
Woll
Stolarz
Chicago Blackhawks Lineup:
Slaggart – Bedard – Donato
Teravainen – Foligno – Mikheyev
Kurashev – Nazar – Bertuzzi
Maroon – Reichel – Smith
Martinez – Jones
Vlasic – Murphy
Allan – Brodie
Soderblom
Mrazek
Teuvo Teravainen opened the scoring with just 10.5 left to play in the first period on the power play with his 13th goal of the season, putting the Blackhawks in front 1-0. He sent the puck in the upper part of the net on a forehand shot after passing back and forth with Connor Bedard and Seth Jones before he ended up getting ahold of the rebound of Ryan Donato’s shot from the slot for his 500th NHL point.
With 12:51 on the clock in the middle frame, Nicholas Robertson found the back of the net to tie it up 1-1 on a power-play goal with a one-timer. Max Domi received the puck from Bobby McMann, who was in the left corner with Connor Murphy, fighting for the puck and got it out to Domi, who passed it off to Robertson in front of the net and put the one-timer past Arvid Soderblom. Jake McCabe put the Maple Leafs ahead 2-1 at 10:15 right off a face-off win by Auston Matthews when he put the puck home from the blue line for his second goal of the season. With just 15 seconds left to play in the second, Robertson netted his second of the night as well as his 10th of the season to give Toronto a 3-1 lead. He put the puck over Soderblom after a backhanded pass from the right wing had found Robertson. Philipp Kurashev answered fast with only seven seconds to go, pulling Chicago within 3-2, scoring while going down to one knee. Frank Nazar had fed him, who carried the puck to the bottom of the right face-off circle before sending it across to Kurashev for the second Hawks tally.
Chris Tanev put in his second goal of the season when he shot from the right circle, it rebounded off Arvid Soderblom and went in off TJ Brodie’s skate for a 4-2 lead with 7:53 on the clock in the third frame. With little time left to play, Pontus Holmberg scored an empty-netter for the 5-2 final.
Nicholas Robertson on what he liked about this game, the second period, and his linemates McMann and Domi: “We battled. Back-to-back is not easy, especially after the break. I’m just happy with our effort in closing out the game, and you know, we got to get a rest and get back at it. …It was nice. I kind of made a conscious effort because I think second periods kind of get stale for us or it could be kind of the opposite for us. So, I wanted to have a good second and fortunately, got a couple in,” – “It’s just speed, we play predictable. Domes is a really good passer, so you have to be ready to shoot… We got to play direct, fast, and be shooters. Domes’ has a good shot and Bob’s got a great shot. We all got to stick to our strings.”
Teuvo Teravainen on the loss, his goal, reaching 500 NHL points, and getting back on track: “Disappointing. After a break, we need to come back and play some good hockey. Just a couple of tough losses, back-to-back games, so just got to learn, see some video, and get better. …We got a power play there, got a couple of looks, then I think I made a pass down in the middle, and Bert made a nice effort there and emptied our for me,” – “When I came to the league, I just tried to play game by game and enjoy the ride. So, it is pretty special, makes me think I’ve been here a while I guess. I still feel young. It feels good though. – We need to get together as a group, find our game, and have some fun on the ice. When we play hard, we play simple. It’s going to be fun out there, so it’s going to be hardworking games.”
Game Notes:
– Joseph Woll made a total of 25 saves for Toronto, and Arvid Soderblom made a total of 25 saves for Chicago.
– Max Domi picked up a pair of assists, both on Nicholas Robertson’s goals.
– Both Jake McCabe and Chris Tanev recorded a goal and an assist.
– Nicholas’s brother, Jason Robertson, had a hat trick in a 4-3 win for the Dallas Stars against the New York Islanders on Sunday. …The brothers became the first pair of brothers to score multiple goals on the same day since Pavel Bure and Valeri Bure on March 1st, 2000.
– Auston Matthews has nine points on a six-game point streak (one goal, eight assists).
– On Saturday, the Maple Leafs defeated the Carolina Hurricanes 6-3. They are 6-4-1 on the second day of back-to-back games.
– TO: 35-20-2, CHI: 17-33-7
ITR 26: 2 Nations Fighting – Inside The Rink
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