Unofficial ‘guaranteed win week’ for the Maple Leafs didn’t turn out as hoped.
Kane was able to unload a lot of frustration following the New York Rangers choosing Vladimir Tarasenko as their major trade deadline pick-up and two days after Toronto went with Ryan O’Reilly of the Blues in the same move. That’s five goals in Kane’s past two games, showing clubs still shopping up until March 3 — such as Dallas, Edmonton and Vegas — that he has motivation but no lingering hip issues at age 34.
Toronto split a back-to-back with Columbus, losing on home ice, then knocked off Chicago and Montreal before getting to the Windy City for a somewhat disorienting late afternoon game in the Central time zone. The Leafs are trying to fend off the Tampa Bay Lightning for second place in the Atlantic Division and now face a string of playoff teams or those on the bubble, starting with the Sabres in Buffalo on Tuesday, the Minnesota Wild Friday and then five cross-continent road games.
Coach Sheldon Keefe said his team didn’t fare well in this case of consecutive starts, with the flight and an odd 5 p.m. Central time zone puck drop.
Samsonov felt well enough to start despite frequent trips to the bathroom the past few days to get past the flu. He did tip his mask to 444-goal career scorer Kane.
“This guy, if he has the time, he’s going to score, not like an AHL guy or fourth line guy. He’s a superstar.”
The Leafs killed a Mark Giordano penalty early in the third period then completed a two-goal rally, Rielly with a smart play to shoot wide as he ended his shift and let Marner catch up to it for his 20th goal.
But after Marner hit the post in quest of the go-ahead marker, Cole Guttman went high on a 2-on-1 chance less than a week after making his NHL debut in Toronto for his first in the NHL.
After taking a Domi pass when Auston Matthews and Justin Holl mucked up a breakout, the third was truly crafty, following a rebound behind the net and banking it off Samsonov’s back. There was initial hesitation to count it until video determined Holl had not swept the puck away before it completely crossed the red line. That allowed the shower of chapeaus to proceed.
The other new Leaf, Noel Acciari, picked up his first in Toronto colours to close the gap, thanks to ex-Hawk David Kampf catching a puck and getting it to his stick for the fast pass. With 24 seconds to play, O’Rielly had his second brush with his first Leaf goal, hitting the post in close on Jaxson Stauber.
Toronto evened it quickly after Kane’s first goal, Matthews drawing a penalty then stopping a clearing attempt that ended up contributing to John Tavares’s 11th power play goal, one more than the captain had last season. Rielly’s assist on the play was his 400th NHL point, the 22nd Leaf and fifth defenceman to hit that milestone with Borje Salming, Tomas Kaberle, Tim Horton and Ian Turnbull.
But the Leafs ran into penalty trouble to slow momentum.
Keefe kept his forward lines together from Saturday, but had to make a change on defence with Rasmus Sandin not 100%. Conor Timmins came back in after sitting versus the Habs.
“It has been really challenging to play through these symptoms,” Toews said in the statement. “In the last few weeks it has reached the point where I had to step back and concentrate on getting healthy.
“I am thankful for the patience and support of my teammates, the coaching staff and the entire Blackhawks organization.”
Chicago general manager Kyle Davidson met the media before the game and said Kane’s countless contributions gave him every right to take a decision on leaving to the wire on March 3.
