Toronto Maple Leafs cruise to 5-2 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks

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Set plays may be more akin to the Super Bowl than Scotiabank Arena, but the Toronto Maple Leafs decided to take a page out of Kansas City coach Andy Reid’s coaching handbook on Wednesday night, drawing up a set play right from the opening faceoff to put the visiting Chicago Blackhawks in an early hole.

Just nine seconds in, William Nylander found enough daylight to squeeze the puck between the goalpost and skate of former Leaf Petr Mrazek in the Chicago goal for the fourth-fastest game-opening goal in team history. The marker, the Swede’s 30th of the season, was just two seconds shy of the franchise record, jointly held by Charlie Conacher and Mitch Marner, and one second slower than Ted Kennedy.

“I think we just talked about it in the locker room and that was kind of what we’re gonna try to do and it worked out,” said the Leafs’ leading goal scorer.

Although Chicago pegged Toronto back just 53 seconds later to tie the game at 1-1 through Sam Lafferty, the Leafs shook off any lingering memories of last Saturday’s implosion to the last-place Columbus Blue Jackets to emerge with a 5-2 victory over the NHL’s 31st-ranked club.

Though Nylander admitted he may have waited a little too long to shoot and called it a “lucky goal,” he gave credit for the concept of the play to the returning Auston Matthews, who was back in the lineup after five games out with a knee injury.

After the reigning Hart Trophy winner won the opening draw, TJ Brodie picked up the puck and passed to Morgan Reilly, who played the role of quarterback, hitting Nylander in stride at the Chicago blueline. Blackhawks blueliner Jake McCabe lost his balance in the process, giving Nylander the extra time and space he needed to break in on Mrazek alone.

“I think it was Matty’s idea to draw that play up and I just saw the space, but usually it’s not open,” Nylander said. “I mean, luckily he blew a tire there and gave me the space. But yeah, it was a nice play.”

Head coach Sheldon Keefe refused to draw too many conclusions from a game against a lowly Chicago team that has just 16 wins on the season, was missing captain Jonathan Toews through illness and arrived in Toronto fresh off a 4-0 shutout loss in Montreal on Tuesday night.

However, the Toronto bench boss liked the take-charge attitude of his top players in drawing up the play, something that he said his leadership group needs to do more of if his team is to challenge for the championship that every person who bleeds blue-and-white has dreamed of.

“A lot of these guys have been playing together for a long time now,” Keefe said. “They have a sense of what the structure is and they know what they can do and they get the information on faceoffs and they have a lot of flexibility to call the plays and get organized themselves. And that’s what you want, you want the players out there taking charge.”

Just as impressive following Saturday’s ignominious 4-3 home loss to Columbus was Toronto’s ability to absorb Chicago’s response to the early goal and not let it distract the Leafs from their game plan.

Rasmus Sandin scored his fourth of the year at the 8:14 mark to restore Toronto’s lead, and though Alex Kerfoot saw his goal overturned for offside, Matthews took a pass from Nylander to snap a shot past Mrazek for his 26th to open a two-goal cushion before the first period was done.

“Obviously there’s gonna be momentum shifts throughout the game and just making sure that we get it right back as quickly as possible,” Matthews said afterwards.

Chicago answered back to start the second through Philipp Kurashev, but goals from Tavares and the second of Connor Timmins’s NHL career put the game out of reach, and allowed the Leafs to turn their attention to Saturday’s visit by the Montreal Canadiens.

In net, Ilya Samsonov stopped 26 of 28 shots that came his way to pick up his 19th win of the season, while Mrazek, who had a 12-6-0 record in 20 games with Toronto last season, made 37 saves in a losing effort.

But it’s the recent play from Nylander, who had three points in the victory, that has sent something of a ripple through the team, with his teammates full of plaudits not just for his offence, but his all-round play.

“Feels like he’s very hungry out there,” Sandin said. “He’s working hard. He’s backtracking finally, sometimes. But it’s great. He’s just playing really good hockey and he’s producing for us.

“He’s really stepping up and being a leader in this team and I think we all can see it.”