Marian Hossa helps Chicago Blackhawks defeat Toronto Maple Leafs 5-3
Marian Hossa scored a goal and had an assist, as the Chicago Blackhawks continued their surge with a 5-3 victory against the Toronto Maple Leafs, at the Air Canada Centre on Saturday night.
Michael Frolik and Bryan Bickell both lit the lamp for Chicago, who registered their eighth consecutive victory. Jonathan Toews and Viktor Stalberg each also notched a goal, while Corey Crawford turned away 30 shots to start the Blackhawks’ four-game road
trip with a victory.
Toews praised his team-mates after the game by saying, "We're getting opportunities to score and I think we've got a lot of guys stepping up and finishing plays off and that's really helping us."
Joffrey Lupul and Joey Crabb both found the net for Toronto, who had a two-game win streak snapped. Luke Schenn also added a goal and James Reimer allowed five goals on just 19 shots before getting pulled. Jean-Sebastien Giguere replaced him and stopped
six shots in the losing effort.
Chicago capitalised on a mistake from the Maple Leafs’ to notch the first goal of the game just 70 seconds into the opening period. Carl Gunnarsson sent an ill-advised long, cross-ice pass deep in his own zone. Hossa grabbed it and fired a wrist shot between
Reimer's pads from the high slot to give the Blackhawks the lead.
The Blackhawks then took advantage on another Toronto turnover at the top of the Maple Leafs’ zone just over four minutes later. The goal came when Troy Brouwer swept away another careless pass and carried it down the left side before passing it to Frolik,
who ripped a wrist shot past the goalie for a 2-0 advantage.
Chicago continued their dominating performance with a third goal with four and a half minutes left in the first period. The play was set up by Patrick Kane, who led an odd-man rush and centred it for Toew, who jammed the puck home from the left doorstep.
The Maple Leafs then reduced the deficit to 3-1, just seven and a half minutes into the second period. This time it was Chicago who had the costly turnover. Lupul got the puck in the neutral zone and raced to the other end before blasting a low wrist shot
past Crawford.
Stalberg gave the Blackhawks a three-goal margin lead at 4-1, with nearly eight minutes left in the middle frame. Then, Bickell gave Chicago a 5-1 advantage with two minutes left in the same period.
Toronto made it a 5-2 game nearly four and a half minutes into the third period, as Crabb redirected in Schenn's shot from the right point. The Maple Leafs pulled another goal back to make it 5-3 just inside the last minute of the game, as Schenn let go
a slap shot from the point, but it was too little too late.
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