The Toronto Maple Leafs wore throwback green and white jerseys to honor the historic Toronto St Pats on Saturday, but it was the Chicago Blackhawks who had the luck of the Irish, as rookie Ryan Hartman scored with 16 seconds left in overtime to give the Hawks a 2-1 victory at Air Canada Centre.
Auston Matthews tallied for Toronto and Andersen put up a sparkling 37 save effort to keep the Leafs in the second wildcard spot, while rookie John Hayden replied for Chicago and Corey Crawford made 25 stops for the win.
Toronto scored the opening goal midway through the first, as William Nylander worked the give-and-go to perfection with Matthews, who deflected a saucer pass past Crawford to snap a seven game goalless streak.
“It was just an unbelievable play by (my linemates), pretty much the five-man unit down there – broke out the puck, able to get an unbelievable pass from (Nylander) and put it in.”
Matthews 32nd of the season puts him just one goal behind Winnipeg’s Patrik Laine in the NHL rookie-scoring race.
Without veteran winger Marian Hossa (lower body injury) in the lineup, Chicago coach Joel Quenneville inserted Hayden on the top line with Jonathan Toews and Richard Panik.
Hayden (a 2013 draft pick who signed an entry-level deal earlier this week after his senior year at Yale) took a perfect backhand dish from Toews and fired it over the glove of Andersen for his first NHL goal.
Chicago fired 39 shots on Andersen, but the only time were they truly dangerous was when Quenneville put Toews, Patrick Kane and Artemi Panarin on the same line. Matthews had the best chances to break the deadlock for Toronto, as linemate Zach Hyman set him up for two great chances that were thwarted by Crawford.
“(Chicago) had the puck lots and yet I didn't think we gave up quality chances at all.” Leafs head coach Mike Babcock said after the game. “You're disappointed to lose; you'd like to win that game obviously. We had some real good opportunities. Hyman made two unbelievable passes to Matthews – one he hit the shaft, one he didn't.”
The Leafs earned a valuable point in the playoff race, moving to 79 points with the overtime loss.
The NY Islanders stayed within a point of Toronto, earning a point in a 3-2 overtime loss to Columbus on Saturday afternoon, while Tampa Bay lost their second straight to the Washington Capitals.
Toronto has a game in hand on both clubs and will use that up when they take on the Boston Bruins at ACC on Monday.
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