If you were looking for a game that started at 7 PM instead of 6… this one was pretty close. There wasn’t much action on either end of the rink outside of a big hit by Ilya Mikheyev until Chris Tanev took a penalty for the Leafs inside the final two minutes. The Blackhawks were able to take a lead with 10.5 seconds on the clock in the first with a power play goal. Arvid Söderblom faced six shots in the first.
If Söderblom wasn’t tested much in the first period, he was dropped into a shooting range to start the second. The Leafs eventually got their first power play of the evening and made it count when both Connor Murphy and Alex Vlasic chased the puck into the corner, leaving Nicholas Robertson waiting for a Max Domi pass all by himself on the back door. Shots on goal were 11-5 in favor of the Leafs when Jake McCabe gave the Leafs a 2-1 lead. Both teams scored in the final 14 seconds of the second period and Toronto’s lead remained one at the break.
The Blackhawks were generating chances in the third and getting close but a shot thru traffic wasn’t controlled by Söderblom, bounced off TJ Brodie‘s skate and rolled helplessly into the net to give Toronto a two-goal lead again. The Blackhawks pulled the goalie with nearly four minutes left in regulation. The Leafs appeared to score into the empty cage with 92 seconds left to push the lead to three… but, unlike Saturday night, the Blackhawks challenged (this time that Toronto was offside). The officials left the goal on the board (a surprise) and the Blackhawks went short-handed down three with the 92 seconds on the clock.
Star 1: Frank Nazar
The Blackhawks allowing a third goal — to give Toronto a two-goal lead — with 14 seconds left in the second period could have easily been deflating and a potential game-ender. But Nazar decided to win a faceoff, take the puck the the house and set up Philipp Kurashev for an easy tap-in goal. This was an effort play from a young player that you love to see at any time, but especially in that situation.
#Blackhawks pull back to within one ? Philipp Kurashev ? Frank Nazar, Seth Jones pic.twitter.com/W4IGmPyOOF
— Bleacher Nation Blackhawks (@BN_Blackhawks) February 24, 2025Star 2: Teuvo Teräväinen
Teräväinen’s power play goal inside the final 11 seconds of the first period gave him an even 500 regular season points in his NHL career. It also gave the Blackhawks a lead heading to the intermission.
#Blackhawks score first! ? Teuvo Teräväinen PPG ? Tyler Bertuzzi, Ryan Donato 500th career point for Teuvo! pic.twitter.com/1nDCbmu1V3
— Bleacher Nation Blackhawks (@BN_Blackhawks) February 24, 2025Star 3: Frank Pellico
His final night playing the organ at the United Center. He was fabulous tonight — and for 33 years.
#Blackhawks pay tribute to the legendary Frank Pellico pic.twitter.com/XvGgKRvVTs
— Tab Bamford (@The1Tab) February 24, 2025Key Takeaways
We’ve seen this frequently of late: Connor Bedard‘s line drawing a tough defensive assignment. He spent 3:25 at 5-on-5 against Auston Matthews in the first period and the Blackhawks had a 2-1 shot advantage while they were on the ice. Bedard won three of a team-high six faceoffs in the first period. At the end of two periods, Bedard had spent 5:49 on the ice at 5-on-5 against Matthews during which the Blackhawks had a 51.72 expected Goals For percentage. Tyler Bertuzzi had assists on both of the Blackhawks’ first two goals. There were lots of people yelling for the Blackhawks to shoot the puck by the time Teräväinen scored the first goal of the game. Too many passes and too much focus on the perimeter until they finally attacked. Ryan Donato‘s assist on the Teräväinen goal was his career-high 19th helper of the season. Seth Jones heard a few boos when he went to the box for the Blackhawks’ first penalty of the night. Domi had a lot of giddyup tonight. He beat Jones in a race to the puck to set up Robertson for the Leafs’ third goal of the second period after setting up Robertson for their first goal as well. Lukas Reichel didn’t take a shift after 12:30 into the second period…Hence then, the article about blackhawks 2 maple leafs 5 three stars key takeaways was published today ( ) and is available on Bleacher Nation ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
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