Toronto Maple Leafs beat Chicago Blackhawks in OT 4-3

(Photo by Kevin Sousa/Icon Sportswire)

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

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Here is the game summary and highlights from the game played on Monday, October 9, 2017

 

1

2

3

OT

FINAL

CHICAGO

2

0

1

0

3

TORONTO

0

1

2

1

4

GAME SUMMARY         |           EVENT SUMMARY        |           FACEOFF SUMMARY


ON THE SCORESHEET

Nikita Zaitsev scored Toronto’s first goal of the night at 10:20 of the second period and later had the primary assist on Connor Brown’s third period goal. Zaitsev has goals (2) in two consecutive games for the first time in his career. Zaitsev also had a goal and an assist in Toronto’s last game on Oct. 7 vs. New York.

Connor Brown picked up the primary assist on Nikita Zaitsev’s second period goal and later added Toronto’s second goal of the night at 13:00 of the third period. Tonight’s game is the ninth multi-point game of Brown’s career.

James van Riemsdyk had Toronto’s third goal of the night at 15:42 of the third period on the power play and now has three power play points (1 goal, 2 assists) in three games this season.

Auston Matthews scored the overtime-winning goal at 3:43 of the extra frame. Matthews had scored one overtime goal in his career prior to tonight (Jan. 1, 2017).

Calle Rosén recorded his first career NHL point with the secondary assist on Nikita Zaitsev’s second period goal.

Ron Hainsey registered the secondary assist on Connor Brown’s third period goal. Hainsey has assists (2) in two consecutive games.

Tyler Bozak recorded the primary assist on van Riemsdyk’s third period goal. The assist was the 200th assist of Bozak’s NHL career.

Morgan Rielly had the secondary assist on van Riemsdyk’s third period goal. Rielly has two power play assists in three games to start the season.

Frederik Andersen stopped 18 shots to earn the victory.

SHOTS FIRED

The Maple Leafs outshot Chicago by a 43-21 margin in all situations and a 28-12 margin in shots at 5-on-5.

Toronto had a 75-44 lead in shot attempts in all situations and a 50-27 lead in shot attempts at 5-on-5.

Auston Matthews led the Maple Leafs with six shots on goal.

William Nylander led Toronto with 11 shot attempts.

HOME SWEET HOME

The Maple Leafs are 2-0-0 at home this season.

Toronto’s all-time record is 287-262-96-3 in 648 games against the Blackhawks and 167-100-54-2 in games played in Toronto. 

Toronto is 2-0-0 against the Western Conference this season and 2-0-0 against the Central Division.

Tonight’s attendance was 19,456.

The Maple Leafs continue their homestand on Wednesday, October 11 when they host the New Jersey Devils.

MAPLE LEAFS LEADERS

Faceoff Wins

10 (Kadri)

Faceoff Win Percentage

100% (Brown, Marner, Matthews)

Hits

4 (Komarov)

Blocked Shots

2 (Brown, Hainsey, Komarov)

Takeaways

2 (Marner)

TOI

23:41 (Rielly)

Power Play TOI

5:24 (Matthews, Nylander)

Shorthanded TOI

7:20 (Hainsey)

Shifts

31 (Gardiner)

5-on-5 Shot Attempt Percentage

86.7% (Matthews – 20 for, 3 against)

RECORD WHEN…

The Maple Leafs were 5-for-6 on the penalty kill and 1-for-6 on the power play tonight. Toronto is 2-0-0 when allowing a power play goal and 3-0-0 when scoring a power play goal this season.

Toronto is 1-0-0 when their opponent scores first.

The Maple Leafs are 1-0-0 when trailing after one period and 1-0-0 when trailing after two periods.

Toronto has a 2-0-0 record when leading/trailing their opponent in shots on goal.

The Maple Leafs are 1-0-0 in Monday games.

OF NOTE…

The Maple Leafs recorded 19 shots in the second period for a new season-high. (Previous: 17, Oct. 7 vs. NYR – 1st)

Toronto’s 43 shots on goal are a new season-high. (Previous: 41, Oct. 7 vs. NYR)

The Maple Leafs have started the season with a record of 3-0-0 for the first time since 2013-14.

Tyler Bozak won 75 percent (6 won, 2 lost) of his offensive zone faceoffs tonight.

Mitch Marner was 5-for-5 (100%) in the faceoff circle tonight.

UPCOMING GAMES:

Wednesday, Oct. 11 vs. New Jersey Devils, 7:30 p.m. (Sportsnet, FAN 590)

Saturday, Oct. 14 at Montreal Canadiens, 7:00 p.m. (Hockey Night in Canada, TSN 1050)

Tuesday, Oct. 17 at Washington Capitals, 7:00 p.m. (TSN, FAN 590)

Wednesday, Oct. 18 vs. Detroit Red Wings, 7:30 p.m. (SN1, TSN 1050)

Saturday, Oct. 21 at Ottawa Senators, 7:00 p.m. (Hockey Night in Canada, FAN 590)

HEAD COACH MIKE BABCOCK

On tonight’s game:

They were better than us early, obviously. Better sticks, better defensively, worked harder, were quicker than us – we were too slow early – but I thought we got engaged and we’ve got a pretty deep group so we were able to come at them pretty good. I thought their goaltender played good and our guy was able to make some big saves. There were tons of penalties in the game tonight. Obviously, you needed good special teams. I didn’t think our power play was particularly very good but, in the end, obviously that was huge.

On beating a veteran team as a confidence boost:

I just think that it was a good game for us. I think the feeling in our room beforehand is – before the other team was coming in and you were hoping. Now you think you’ve got a chance. That’s just a different feel.

On the team’s commitment to the forecheck in the third period:

I just thought we pushed hard and that’s important. We stayed with it pretty good and no one even panicked, we just stayed the course even then when they got the power play goal there – the banker off the back board – I thought we still stayed determined. That was a big goal right away… Brown got the goal, that was a big goal for us right there. That got our energy back.

On the effectiveness of the Hyman-Matthews-Nylander line:

I just thought Auston was really good. He was – they’re good all the time. Hyman is a machine, [Nylander] skated so that was a really good line for us. Auston was determined and playing head-to-head against Kane all night and I thought they did a real nice job.

FREDERIK ANDERSEN (18 SAVES)

On tonight’s comeback:

It’s good. It’s the first real game, actually – I thought the first two were a little wild – but I think in this one we showed some character. I think we kept battling back even though they got the insurance goal there and we just kept coming after them. I think we played well in the third.

On what changed in the performance after the first:

I think we just started skating a little bit more and wanting it a little bit more. They were getting through a little bit more than us and I think we finally started getting it in deep and moving around their zone and wearing them out a little bit. We put a lot of shots on this guy and finally wore him out.

On tough bounces leading to goals early:

It’s tough. Sometimes like that they go in and I had to find a way to make the next save. I think that’s really all it comes down to and luckily I was able to make a save here and there and we were able to make a comeback.

On the challenge of facing Matthews’ shot:

I think that [overtime-winning] puck is still sitting back up there. Not a lot of guys can stop that puck in this league.

CONNOR BROWN (1 GOAL, 1 ASSIST)

On coming away with a win tonight:

That was a big game for us. We wanted to come out here, and – Chicago has been so good for so long – we really wanted to play a good game. I thought we did that. other than the first period we kind of took it to them, played smart, tried to play in their end as much as possible and it was nice to tie it up there and come back and win.

On scoring his first goal of the season:

Yeah, it’s nice to get the first one out of the way, always.

On what he’s most proud of from the team’s performance tonight:

I felt like our second and third period, we were almost a different team from the first. We were a bit of a track meet in the first and that’s not the way we want to play. They were making so many plays, you can kind of get sucked into playing like that and turning pucks over more than we want. I thought we did a good job of bouncing back and just getting back into the way we need to execute.

AUSTON MATTHEWS (GAME-WINNING GOAL)

On hard fought victory:

This was a big game for us as far as who we were up against and our first two games being shootouts, so this was a real hockey game for us tonight. I thought we showed a lot of poise and we were able to crawl back into it and win it in overtime so it’s exactly the start we wanted. So, pretty solid start for us – just want to keep the momentum going.

On what changed after the first period:

I think we were just tired defensively. The first two goals we just need to be better. They are a team that plays with a lot of speed, they’ve got a lot of skill so we don’t want to turn the puck over and let them come back the other way because they are very dangerous.

On what changed after the first period:

I thought as the game went on we got better and better and that’s the way we want to play. We were up against a pretty good hockey team, they’re a team that knows how to win, they’ve won before so when you get you get in these tight games it’s a matter of inches. Definitely a big win for us as far as confidence goes and we just want to keep that momentum going.

On his overtime game winner:

Two-on-one, it was a close call on the offsides they called earlier so just got in and tried to fake a pass a little bit, get him leaning one way, and snuck it by him.

JAMES van RIEMSDYK (1 GOAL)

On tonight’s game:

I thought it was a good hockey game. They had their chances, we had our chances, it was a competitive game and two good teams going back and forth. It was probably a fun game to watch.

On what he was most proud of in the team’s effort:

I think just how we stuck with it and kept playing. That’s all we can ask to do. You just want to play the next shift, worry about the next shift and respond well when things aren’t going your way. I thought we continued to do that today.

On the win as a confidence booster:

We’re trying to get better and build on each game. We knew we had some things to clean up before this one and I thought we did a much better job in this one. It was probably our best defensive effort, I thought, of the year as far as just playing as a five-man unit and trying to keep things to the outside and limiting their chances. It was a weird game as far as penalties – I guess it’s the new normal – but we did a good job in that regard and [Frederik Andersen] did a great job and we were able to capitalize on some chances.

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