The Toronto Maple Leafs scored twice in eight seconds late in the third period Tuesday night and they went on to defeat the visiting Chicago Blackhawks 3-2.
Auston Matthews scored on a power play at 16:51 of the third period to tie the game at two. Dakota Joshua came right back to score the go-ahead goal at the 16:59 mark.
Oliver Ekman-Larsson also scored in the third period for the Maple Leafs, who snapped a two-game skid and completed a 2-1-2 homestand.
Matthews added an assist and William Nylander had two assists. Goaltender Joseph Woll returned from injured reserve and made 23 saves. He missed four games with a lower-body injury.
Wyatt Kaiser and Jason Dickinson scored for the Blackhawks, who have lost three straight. Spencer Knight stopped 24 shots.
Joshua pinged the right post from 7 feet out at 9:07 of the first period.
Chicago took the lead at 10:21 of the first on Kaiser’s 34-footer from the high slot with Dominic Toninato perched at the edge of the crease.
Chicago put the puck in the net at 11:27, but it was erased for goaltender interference.
The Blackhawks took a 2-0 lead with a short-handed goal at 14:58 of the first period on Dickinson’s wrist shot from the right circle on Ilya Mikheyev’s pass at the end of an odd-man rush.
The Maple Leafs started the second period with more energy and came close to scoring a short-handed goal in the early going. Play evened out for the rest of the period with no goals.
Toronto opened the third period with a power play for 44 seconds on a carryover penalty from the second but failed to capitalize.
The Maple Leafs scored at 9:59 of the third when Ekman-Larsson’s shot from the point found its way through traffic and clipped off a Chicago defender.
Matthews’ tying goal came with Toninato off for holding the stick. Joshua won a race to the puck on Troy Stecher’s dump-in off the faceoff to get the winner.
The Blackhawks were without their leading scorer, Connor Bedard, who is on IR with a shoulder injury.
Chicago defenseman Artyom Levshunov was a healthy scratch after arriving late to practice on Monday.
–Field Level Media
