The Chicago Blackhawks lost to the Toronto Maple Leafs after allowing three unanswered goals in the second half of the third period.
The Chicago Blackhawks played a poised, fast, and strong game for the first 55 minutes of their Tuesday night matchup against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Then, the Blackhawks lost everything they worked incredibly hard for in the final few minutes of the game.
Entering the 3rd period, the Blackhawks were feeling great with their 2-0 lead that they had built up in the first period. Wyatt Kaiser and Jason Dickinson had the two goals for Chicago.
At 9:59 of the final period, however, Oliver Ekman-Larsson threw a puck on net after the Leafs won a face-off back to him, and it found its way in. This seeing-eye shot was the beginning of the disaster coming.
With under five minutes remaining in the period, the Leafs snatched victory from the hands of defeat by scoring two goals in eight seconds. Auston Matthews scored to tie the game on the power play. Then, Spencer Knight allowed a rare rebound that Dakota Joshua beat Louis Crevier to and made it 3-2.
When trying to tie it back up themselves, the Blackhawks were unable to set up in the offensive zone with the goalie pulled, allowing the Leafs to make the 3-2 score final. This is going to be a tough loss for the players and coaches to swallow. They played so well for 95 percent of the game, only to blow it in the final five minutes.
It happened so fast. Two quick and somewhat random plays put the Blackhawks down after they were just a couple of minutes away from winning a solid road game.
There have been a handful of blowout losses, and those are tough. However, they knew early that they were going to lose those games. This is a game that they played well and have no standings points to show for it. That can be more deflating than a blowout.
One player who deserves some credit is Spencer Knight. He allowed that bad rebound on the Dakota Joshua goal, but he had a shutout going through the first 50 minutes of the game. Bad penalties, a few defensive mistakes, and a couple of nice plays by Toronto's top players handed Knight a tough loss.
After the game, Jeff Blashill was not as hard on the team in his media availability as expected. He knows that they played well and things didn't go their way late. It happens sometimes, but this is a learning lesson for a young team.
Watch Every Blackhawks Goal
Next Up For Chicago
Next Up For Chicago is the Montreal Canadiens as their eastern Canada road trip continues. This will be their chance to forget about what happened on Tuesday night in Toronto.
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