Maple Leafs recover, defeat Blackhawks in Mrazek return

TORONTO -- David Kampf broke a tie with 1:20 left in the third period, and the Toronto Maple Leafs recovered from blowing a three-goal lead to defeat the Chicago Blackhawks 5-4 at Scotiabank Arena on Saturday.

"It feels great scoring in the last couple minutes," said Kampf, a forward who played 235 games with the Blackhawks over four seasons before signing with the Maple Leafs as a free agent this offseason. "It was a big goal for us, so it feels good for sure. I don't know that it matters who the opponent was, I'm happy for every goal I score. We had a good lead in the third period, but we lost a couple plays and gave them a couple goals. That was bad, but two big points for us still is huge."
Kampf put in a loose puck after goalie Kevin Lankinen was out of position behind the net when a dump-in by Morgan Rielly bounced off a stanchion and into the slot.
"He scored the last game (against Chicago, on Oct. 27), he scored again today," Blackhawks forward Dominik Kubalik said. "He's Czech, he's my friend. I'm happy for him. I would be happier if he would be scoring against somebody else than us."
Auston Matthews had a goal and an assist to extend his point streak to nine games, William Nylander had a goal and two assists, and Petr Mrazek made 31 saves in his first game since Oct. 30 for the Maple Leafs (19-8-2), who are 2-2-1 in their past five games.

Mrazek missed 19 games after aggravating a groin injury. He sustained the injury in his Toronto debut on Oct. 14, which kept him out six games.
"Mrazek played a [heck] of a night. Really it was two points thanks to him," Maple Leafs captain John Tavares said. "It was hard to leave the rink tonight feeling good about our game. We put ourselves in a really good spot, but we just didn't take care of it like we've done pretty much all year."
Connor Murphy and Jake McCabe each had a goal and an assist, and Lankinen made 21 saves for the Blackhawks (10-15-2).
"I'll continue to push the positives at them," Chicago coach Derek King said. "There's nothing to be down about. They battled. I wasn't here for the first [12] games, but hearing from these guys, every time they were down 3-1 the game was over. There was no pushback. Now we have a little pushback. Wish we just had a better start. And I think we would have had a better outcome. But I love the way we finished."
The Maple Leafs took a 2-1 lead at 9:14 of the first period when Nylander one-timed a pass at the top of the goal crease from Tavares, who was behind the net.
Matthews made it 3-1 on the power play at 14:32 when he put in a deflected puck in the slot.
Pierre Engvall shot past Lankinen's glove at 3:25 of the second period to put Toronto up 4-1. Alex Steeves had an assist on the goal for his first NHL point in his third game.
Murphy cut it to 4-2 at 16:31 when he shot from the top of the right face-off circle.
The Blackhawks pulled to within 4-3 on the rush when Kubalik shot past Mrazek's blocker after taking a pass from Philipp Kurashev at 1:47 of the third period.

McCabe tied it 4-4 from the point at 10:42.
"I don't want to say we were cheating on offense, but I just think we are out of sync," Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe said. "We were trying to force pucks into the middle and playing against a team that plays a very conservative game defensively, they just hold the middle of the rink and wait for you to force pucks into the middle and then create turnovers and go. I didn't like how we adapted to that."
The Blackhawks went up 1-0 at 1:53 of the first period when Jonathan Toews skated into the slot on a 2-on-1 with Brandon Hagel and shot past Mrazek's blocker. Toews scored for a second straight game after not scoring in his first 25 games this season.
"It was not the start I wanted, but that's hockey sometimes, so I tried to be focused on the next puck and I think I settled pretty well after that," Mrazek said. "I just told myself, 'Let's stop the next one, let's play well and let's see what happens.'"
Tavares tied it 1-1 on the power play at 2:54 with a shot from the left face-off dot that went under Lankinen's left arm.
NOTES: Matthews has scored 16 points (11 goals, five assists) during the streak. ... The Maple Leafs were 2-for-3 on the power play, becoming the sixth team in the past 25 years to score multiple power-play goals in five consecutive games. They've scored 10 (two in each game) in 18 opportunities in that span. ... Chicago forward Reese Johnson left the game 30 seconds into the third period after taking a hit from Toronto defenseman Jake Muzzin in the neutral zone. There was no update. … The Blackhawks are 9-6-0 under King; they were 1-9-2 when he replaced Jeremy Colliton on Nov. 6.