Chicago Blackhawks Vs. Toronto Maple Leafs on Mar 18th, 2017

March 18th, 2017 was my first NHL game. It was my childhood team, the Chicago Blackhawks taking on the Toronto Maple Leafs. Knowing so much about the game of hockey from a young age, my parents saw my passion and decided to take me to my first game at ten years old. I was excited to see with my own eyes, my childhood favourite players, Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews take the ice in my hometown for the first time in my life. The game started at 7 PM and the starting goalie for the Maple Leafs was Frederik Andersen and for the Blackhawks was Corey Crawford.

First Period

Before I get into the period, the Maple Leafs were wearing their St Pats green and white jerseys for their heritage which was cool. There are a few good chances both ways from Leafs defenceman Morgan Rielly and Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane. Nearly ten minutes played in the first, Auston Matthews creates an offensive rush with Zach Hyman and William Nylander. Matthews passes the puck to Nylander on his right who then passes it back to Matthews at the goal which converts to a 1-0 Maple Leafs goal, assisted by #11 Hyman & #29 Nylander. After that, there were a few more good scoring chances from both teams, but, by the end of the first period, it remained 1-0 Maple Leafs. Both teams were dominant in this period and had some good scoring chances. But the goalies remained to be at the top of their game to keep this a low-scoring period. Even though Blackhawks goaltender Corey Crawford let one goal in, he still played great this period.

Second Period

The second period starts and what an offensive start by the Blackhawks. Players like Jonathan Toews and Artemi Panarin created chances within the first five minutes of play. No goal scored yet within the first ten minutes of the second period but lots of offensive chances coming from the Blackhawks now. However, Nylander gets a great opportunity and hits the crossbar with just about ten minutes still left to play. Chicago defender, Brent Seabrook deep in his own zone, sees both forwards Toews and newcomer John Hayden creating an offensive two-on-one rush Seabrook decides to stretch pass it to Toews, who then passes it to Hayden which lands on his skate but he is able to kick the puck to his stick and lets it rip and scores! It is a 1-1 hockey game. This is #40 John Hayden’s first NHL goal assisted by #19 Jonathan Toews and #7 Brent Seabrook. With less than a minute to play, the Maple Leafs are in the Blackhawks zone. Hyman behind the Blackhawks goal sets up Matthews for a one-timer but he is robbed by Blackhawks goaltender, Corey Crawford. By the end of the second, it is a 1-1 hockey game. The Blackhawks became better offensively this period but both goalies are still at the top of their games. 

Third Period

At the start of the third period, Maple Leafs forward Zach Hyman creates a chance by passing it to Matthews at the front of the net but he is stopped by the Blackhawks goaltender. There is a chance by Blackhawks’ Toews with four minutes played in the third but he is unable to get a shot on goal. Both are one of many opportunities both teams had in the third period but both Frederik Anderson for the Maple Leafs and Corey Crawford for the Blackhawks stood at the top of their games keeping it a 1-1 hockey game. This meant that there needed to be overtime.

Overtime

As a kid, this was so exciting for me since it was my first NHL game and it was headed to overtime. But, as a hockey fan, I was stressed out to the max. Overtime was intense as both teams had crazy opportunities to end the game but the goalies played phenomenally. It was not until the dying seconds of overtime when Blackhawks forward Artemi Panarin created a two-on-one rush with Ryan Hartman off of a save from Corey Crawford. Panarin passes it to Hartman who fakes and then shoots and scores! The Blackhawks win in overtime 2-1! The goal was challenged for offside but it remained a good goal due to Panarin having control of the puck when passing into the Maple Leafs’ offensive zone. #38 Ryan Hartman goal was assisted by #72 Artemi Panarin and #50 Corey Crawford.

End of Game

The Blackhawks won 2-1 in overtime and that was special to me and it still holds up to this today to me. I think ten-year-old me would be very disappointed with how the Blackhawks are today. But she would be happy and grateful for the fact that she got to witness a dynasty, while current me has accepted we are bad and we are in for a very long rebuild. The third star of this game was #31 Frederik Anderson for the Maple Leafs, the second star was #40 John Hayden for the Blackhawks and the first star was #38 Ryan Hartman for the Blackhawks. This game will always remain special and unforgettable to me and I am very grateful for my parents who took me to this game and created this memory with me.

Pictures from the game: