Matthews, Tavares step up in Maple Leafs' wild win against Blackhawks

CHICAGO -- Auston Matthews had a small smile on his face when he stood before the media, a towel draped around his neck.

The Toronto Maple Leafs center looked spent but happy, like a fighter who found a way to outlast his opponent. Considering how the Maple Leafs and Chicago Blackhawks traded goals in Toronto's 7-6 overtime win at United Center on Sunday, which included three goals in 55 seconds late in the third period, the look seemed appropriate.
"I'm sure it's a game the coaches don't like, but as players it's definitely pretty fun to play in, going back and forth like that," Matthews said.
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The best offensive players for the Maple Leafs (2-1-0) and Blackhawks (2-0-1) didn't disappoint. Matthews had two goals and two assists, and center John Tavares had the ninth hat trick of his NHL career. He's the fourth Maple Leafs player in the NHL modern era (since 1943-44) with a hat trick within his first three games (Miroslav Frycer in 1981-82, Jeff O'Neill in 2005-06 and Matthews in 2016-17).
"I want to be as consistent as I can, so I prepare myself and expect a lot of myself on a nightly basis, with and without the puck," Tavares said. "If things keep improving, keep getting better, I keep feeling comfortable. I still know there's room for growth and ways to get better. I just want to keep challenging myself and not be satisfied with what's happened so far."

Blackhawks center Jonathan Toews scored his fifth goal of the season and Patrick Kane scored twice.
But Matthews and Kane weren't just going goal-for-goal against each other. They were going goal celebration for goal celebration. Moments after giving Toronto a 6-5 lead with 1:02 remaining in the third period, Matthews held his glove to his ear. It was in response to Kane, whose goal tied it 5-5 22 seconds earlier. But Kane dished it right back to Matthews with a goal and a celebration when he scored with 29 seconds to go to tie it 6-6.
"Sometimes all you can do is just laugh," Matthews said. "He's a premier player in this league and somebody I look up to, my favorite player growing up watching. When that happens, you've got to sit back and laugh."
Kane said, "That's entertainment right there. I wasn't really happy when he did it, so it was nice to get a chance to score and do it back to him. But he had a really good game, Tavares had a big game, [Mitchell] Marner had a big game. Their top players showed up for them tonight. So it was kind of nice to go back and forth there."
The Blackhawks played overtime for the third consecutive game, but Maple Leafs defenseman Morgan Rielly ended it with a wrist shot at 19 seconds.
"It was a pretty crazy game [in] a lot of ways with the quality of chances and quantity of goals," Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville said. "The way it ended was a different level of unpredictability."

It was unpredictable and it was entertaining. It wasn't the type of game that was going to win rave reviews for defense or goaltending. But when it came to quality goals and goal celebrations, the best from the Maple Leafs and Blackhawks didn't disappoint.
"It's just great to come out on top," Tavares said. "We know those aren't ones you want to get into all the time, but they're certainly exciting and certainly gets the emotions up and down. It's just a good character win coming off yesterday [a 5-3 loss to the Ottawa Senators on Saturday], and coming on a back to back. We dug deep, had some big plays from many guys tonight. It's nice to get the two points."