|
 The Blackhawks right winger scored the first two goals of the game
in the second period and then had the clincher in a 4-1 victory over
the Toronto Maple Leafs.
He had never had a hat trick in 622 regular-season games before
Friday, although he had two in the playoffs.
"I think I've had a few two-goal games," said Kane, who has 28 goals
on the season. "And it never really happened. Like I said, I
wouldn't trade the two in the playoffs for anything in the regular
season. But it's nice to get the first one in the regular season and
kind of get it out of the way, so to speak. Tonight I was definitely
the beneficiary of a lot of great plays by my linemates and our
power play had some nice plays, too."
Kane also had an assist and the four-point night gives him 67 points
for the season.
Left winger Artemi Panarin scored a goal and added two assists for
the Blackhawks (30-13-4). Defenseman Brent Seabrook contributed two
assists.
Defenseman Morgan Rielly scored for the Maple Leafs (16-19-7), who
have lost four in a row.
"I thought we were competitive," Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock
said. "I didn't think our bottom six forwards were near good enough.
I thought our top six were very good. I thought we had good chances.
I liked the way we competed but the bottom line is the specialty
teams killed us.
"We need to score goals. You've got to beat the other team to three
in this league to win and we didn't do that tonight. Any way you
look at it, you've got to get two or three and we didn't do that.
We've got to find a way. We need more out of our bottom six."
Chicago goaltender Scott Darling, playing in his 11th game of the
season and making his 10th start, stopped 28 shots.
Toronto goaltender James Reimer, starting for the second straight
game, made 25 saves.
The Blackhawks were playing the second game of a back-to-back set
after defeating the Montreal Canadiens 2-1 on Thursday.
The Maple Leafs were trying to rebound from a 3-1 loss to the
Columbus Blue Jackets on Wednesday.
"Our guys are playing well," Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville said.
"I think the consistency in our lineup is more noticeable here.
We're getting contributions across all four lines. I think earlier
on it was basically a one-line team and now we're seeing everyone
contribute. Our defense has been balanced and our goaltending has
been rock solid so I like the consistency right now."
The Blackhawks have five wins on the road during their winning
streak. "We're not changing how we play," Quenneville said. "I think
we're playing with consistency home and away."
The Blackhawks scored two power-play goals in six opportunities.
[to top of second column] |
"We had lots of chances tonight," Maple Leafs center Tyler Bozak
said. "I thought five-on-five we played pretty good. It felt like
our line, we felt good out there, we thought we had a ton of
chances. Probably should have had a couple more but their goalie
played well and they beat us in the special teams game."
Chicago right winger Andrew Shaw put in his own rebound at 12:07 of
the first period but Toronto won its challenge that the play was
offside and the goal was disallowed.
Kane converted a goalmouth pass from defenseman Duncan Keith at
13:07 of the second period, four seconds after a holding penalty
against Toronto defenseman Jake Gardiner had expired.
Kane's second goal of the game came on a power play at 17:13 of the
second. He rifled a shot from the lower edge of the right faceoff
circle after taking a pass from Panarin. Toronto defenseman Matt
Hunwick was serving a high-sticking penalty.
Panarin scored his 16th goal of the season 21 seconds into the third
period as the Blackhawks had a two-man advantage.
Toronto center Nazem Kadri took a high-sticking penalty at 19:59 of
the second period and defenseman Roman Polak was penalized for
crosschecking 12 seconds into the third period.
Rielly scored his fifth goal of the season at 3:47 of the third on a
shot from the right faceoff circle.
Kane completed his hat trick at 17:48 of the third with Reimer
removed for an extra attacker.
NOTES: Chicago coach Joel Quenneville moved past Al Arbour into
second place on the all-time list of wins by NHL coaches with the
2-1 victory Thursday over the Montreal Canadiens. With Friday's win,
he has 784 victories. Scotty Bowman is the all-time leader with
1,244 victories. ... Blackhawks C Marcus Kruger (fractured left
wrist) and D Erik Gustafsson (lower body) did not play on Friday.
... Toronto LW James van Riemsdyk (fractured foot), C Nick Spaling
(upper body) and D Stephane Robidas (upper body) remained out of the
lineup. ... The Maple Leafs travel to Boston to play the Bruins
Saturday. ... The Maple Leafs recalled LW Rich Clune from the
Toronto Marlies of the AHL but he did not play Friday. ... The
Blackhawks return to Chicago, where they will play the Canadiens on
Sunday.
[© 2016 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2016 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
