Toronto Maple Leafs Take Down Hawks and Finally Win a Hockey Game!

Plan the parade, the Toronto Maple Leafs are winners again!

A win is a win, but man, that Toronto Maple Leafs game last night was very close to being another heart-breaker.

Heading into last night’s game, the entire hockey world had their eyes on the Chicago Blackhawks organization. It wasn’t because of the “Original Six” match-up against the Leafs, but it was because of the sickening news surrounding John Doe, who we now know as Kyle Beach.

Beach revealed himself to the public yesterday and shared more details about the sexual abuse that happened when he was with the Blackhawks organization.

Stan Bowman is out as GM because of the allegations and many more will get fired or punished for their behavior. Beach is a survivor and his story needs to be shared so that he can help many others who have dealt with a similar situation.

For those unfamiliar with the story, please watch this interview done by TSN’s Rick Westhead, as Beach shares details about the event.

As the Blackhawks were dealing with those significant allegations off the ice, they still had a game to play on the ice. Heading into Wednesday’s game, they were winless, but even worse, they had yet to lead a game all year.

So, obviously, we all knew what was going to happen when they played the Leafs.

Toronto Maple Leafs Rally To Beat Chicago

The game started out just as we all expected. Chicago went up 1-0, finally getting their first lead of the season and eventually went up 2-0 after the first period.

I’m not sure how every Leafs fan felt at the first intermission, but I was angry. How could Toronto be losing to one of the worst teams in the NHL when they desperately need this win? This team is a joke and if they lose tonight, I don’t think I can watch anymore.

Things didn’t look like they’d get much better, but then John Tavares got into the slot, fired a back-hander on net and made the game 2-1. Finally, the big boys showed up and did something. Not only did the captain score his second goal of the season but Mitch Marner registered an assist, which is something we haven’t been able to say much of this season.

Toronto dominated the third period, playing like the team we expected them to, but it was an unfamiliar face who scored. David Kampf scored midway through the period to tie the game and send this one to overtime.

After outshooting Chicago 17-7 in the third period, Toronto deserved to win and needed this win more than anything to get their confidence back. They needed the core-four to do something and that’s exactly what happened.

Auston Matthews passed the puck to William Nylander, springing him for a breakaway and then Nylander slid one five-hole to win the game.

Oh my goodness, the Toronto Maple Leafs won a gosh-darn hockey game again. Praise the lord!

This game wasn’t perfect, but the key takeaway from it was the rallying cry after the first period. They’ve faced adversity the past week and last night was no different. They could have easily folded and lost this one by a landslide, but instead, they dug deep, got it to overtime and the core-four stepped up.

Toronto can’t continue to get into early deficits but this should spark the team moving forward as they hope to pick up an easy two points on Saturday Night against the Detroit Red Wings.

For this team, there’s no such thing as an easy two points, so they’ll probably win in overtime again, but our mental health, let’s hope it’s another big win and the core-four steps up once again.