Patrick Kane tallied his ninth career regular-season hat trick and Cole Guttman’s first career goal stood up as the game-winner as the host Chicago Blackhawks topped the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-3 on Sunday night.
Goaltender Jaxson Stauber stopped 32 of 35 shots to help the Blackhawks win their second straight. Max Domi delivered a goal and three assists. Kane added an assist for a four-point night.
Morgan Rielly had two assists for the Maple Leafs, who had a two-game winning streak snapped. Ilya Samsonov made 23 saves for Toronto.
Kane opened the scoring at 10:44 of the first period, taking a pass from Domi, working into the left faceoff circle and beating Samsonov on a slick wrist shot.
Toronto answered 2:08 later. Just nine seconds into a power play, the Maple Leafs capitalized when John Tavares redirected Rielly’s shot.
Toronto has notched power-play goals in seven of the past eight games.
Kane helped Chicago regain the advantage at 7:57 of the second period, gathering a pass from the boards and showing patience as he worked toward the net and scored through Samsonov’s five-hole.
He scored his third goal of the night about three minutes later, securing the hat trick when he banked a shot off Samsonov.
After recording one point and no goals in his first five games of February, Kane has five goals in his past two contests.
Newly acquired Noel Acciari brought Toronto to within 3-2 with just over two minutes remaining in the second period. Mitch Marner tied the game before Guttman answered to give the Blackhawks the lead for good at 11:42 of the third period.
Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews remained sidelined — he hasn’t played since Jan. 28 — but provided clarification on his absence before the game.
Issuing a statement through the team, Toews said he is “still dealing with the symptoms of Long COVID and Chronic Immune Response Syndrome.” Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson indicated the team was positive Toews could return this season.
–Field Level Media
