INSTANT ANALYSIS: Comeback Bid Spoiled Late in Toronto

There's no other way to describe Saturday's result in Toronto than a heartbreaker.
The Blackhawks quickly found themselves down 4-1 to the Maple Leafs, but battled back to a 4-4 tie late in the game, one that the home side took in the dying minutes, 5-4.
"That was tough," Derek King said, while admiring his team's comeback effort to even make it tough to swallow.
"I think we deserved a little better," Dominik Kubalik added. "It's a huge comeback, that's positive for sure."

POSTGAME LINKS
GAMECENTER: CHI at TOR
RECAP: Blackhawks Erase Three-Goal Deficit, Fall Late to Maple Leafs
MEDICAL: Borgstrom Out with Non-COVID Illness
HIGHLIGHTS: Blackhawks at Maple Leafs
GALLERY: Blackhawks at Maple Leafs
INSIDER: Candid Convo with Interim GM Kyle Davidson

COMEBACK SPOILED

Chicago's opening 25 minutes put them in a 4-1 hole early into the second period, including two man-advantage goals from the Leafs' second-best power play unit in the league.
"I don't think we started on time," King said. "I think we were a little bit sleepy at the start and that cost us a little bit."
From there, though, the Blackhawks kicked their game into gear and started to claw their way back. All told in the middle frame, Chicago outshot the Maple Leafs 14-3, allowing just two shots after the early-period goal against, while finding a late-period goal to spark the comeback bid. A pair of goals in the first half of the third saw the score leveled at 4-4 with the visitors holding all the momentum in search of the game-winner.
It was then that a dump in around the glass by Toronto caught a stanchion in the glass and the puck kicked out into the slot, which Kevin Lankinen behind his cage in anticipation of the wring-around. Former Hawk David Kampf was there on the receiving end of the fortuitous bounce, quickly potting his second of the year against this former team past a diving Lankinen for the winner.

"Right away, it sucks," Connor Murphy said. "Any time you lose late in the game when you're going well and feeling like we're going to win it and have momentum, it's going to sting right away. You take it for what it's worth, that it's just a crazy bounce."
"Solid effort by our guys. Garbage bounce," King said. "We say the hockey gods will come back at you sometimes like that. We'll just learn from not starting on time and hopefully correct that next game.
Despite how tough Saturday's loss might be to swallow in the moment, the play over the second half of the game, and the fight to even make it a game, has to be a positive the team carry's forward into its upcoming three-game homestand against Calgary, Washington and Nashville -- all teams firmly in playoff position entering the week.
"There's nothing to be down about. They battled," King said. "I wasn't here for the first 10 games, but hearing from these guys, every time they were down 3-1, the game was over. There was no push back. Now we have a little push back, so hopefully they build off of that."

PROVING IT

A somewhat surprising scratch on Thursday night in Montreal was that of Dylan Strome, who came out of the lineup in favor of the newly-recalled Philipp Kurashev. The reason, King explained, was that the 100% trust factor when the forward didn't have the puck, the unrelenting drive to do the work over a full 200 feet, wasn't quite there yet between player and coach. Despite what he could bring to the game offensively, the two-way game King so values wasn't to the level he demanded, and a player of Strome's skill level doesn't fit the bill in a bottom-six role.
"The big thing with him is he's going to have to change his game a little bit to play. He understands that, and it's a work in progress. It doesn't happen overnight," King said Thursday, acknowledging Strome's play had been improving, but wasn't fully there. "It's the trust factor. When we're late in the game and I need to go to three lines, is he going to be that guy on one of those three lines that I can trust on a D-zone faceoff or when you're trapped in your end? And right now, we're just not trusting each other to that extent. He has a lot more to give, and he realizes that. Has he been playing better? For sure he has. But it's those little details of the game."
Strome took that disappointment and turned it into motivation in the 48 hours between games, making his case to King that he could do the job asked of him and could help the team win.
"I wanted to see some emotion come back," King said before Saturday's game. "Like, tell me you want to be in the lineup, or you're mad, and I have. He's come in and said, 'I can help this team.' And I know he can. The big thing with him was to get him to stay in the battles. Don't accept defeat."
With Henrik Borgstrom ruled out ahead of Saturday's game due to a non-COVID illness, Strome had his shot to prove it, drawing back into the fold. He started in a third-line role between Dominik Kubalik and Kurashev, but by the middle of the game had earned a promotion to the top line between Alex DeBrincat and Patrick Kane, as well as a spot on the top power play unit.
Strome finished the night with four shots on goal, 10-of-16 at the faceoff dot (starting the game a perfect 6-for-6) and with a takeaway and a blocked shot to boot.
"I thought Strome had a strong game for us," King said after. "It was good to have him back, playing the way we asked him to. Hopefully he can continue to build off of that."