Blackhawks build big lead, hold off Leafs

Brendan Perlini had a goal and two assists, Brandon Saad added a goal and an assist, and the visiting Chicago Blackhawks held on to defeat the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-4 on Wednesday night.
The Maple Leafs trailed 5-0 before scoring four consecutive goals, including three in the third period, when they took 30 shots.
Duncan Keith, Dominik Kahun and Alex DeBrincat also scored for the Blackhawks, who have won four in a row. Dylan Strome contributed two assists.
Corey Crawford saved 17 of the 18 shots he faced in the Chicago goal but left because of illness after the second period. Collin Delia took over for the third and made 27 saves.
Andreas Johnsson, Auston Matthews and Morgan Rielly each had a goal and an assist for the Maple Leafs, who have lost two in a row. John Tavares also scored for Toronto, and William Nylander and Mitch Marner each added two assists. Garret Sparks replaced Frederik Andersen in the Toronto goal at the start of the second period after the Blackhawks scored four first-period goals.
Andersen, who also was replaced by Sparks during a 6-2 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday, made 10 saves. Sparks stopped 24 of 25 shots. Keith scored his fifth goal this season at 3:19 of the first period when his slap shot from the left point was deflected by Nylander before trickling past Andersen.
Perlini notched his 12th goal this season, and seventh in his past six games, beating a Maple Leaf before firing a wrist shot from the high slot at 12:55 of the first period.
Following a Toronto turnover at the Chicago blue line, Kahun scored his 12th from the slot on a nifty pass from Patrick Kane at 17:13 of the first. Saad scored his 23rd of the season 1:33 later, switching to his backhand to tuck the puck home on a feed from Dylan Sikura.
Chicago led 5-0 on DeBrincat’s 38th goal when Perlini set him up in the slot at 12:32 of the second period.
Johnsson scored his 20th this season on a tip-in of Rielly’s shot from the left point at 18:27 of the second. With Delia sprawled to the side of the crease, Matthews converted a pass from Johnson for his 32nd goal at 7:57 of the third period. Rielly scored his 19th goal of the season at 10:55 of the third. With Sparks out for an extra attacker, Tavares scored his 39th goal at 18:29 of the third.

Motte’s back-to-back goals carry Canucks past Rangers
Tyler Motte scored two goals 11 seconds apart in the second period as the host Vancouver Canucks beat the New York Rangers 4-1 on Wednesday night. The Canucks posted only their fifth NHL win in the past 18 games (5-10-3), while the Rangers took their eighth loss in nine outings.
Brock Boeser and Jake Virtanen, with an empty-netter in the final minute, also tallied for the Canucks. Pavel Buchnevich scored for the Rangers. Vancouver goaltender Jacob Markstrom stopped 21 of 22 shots. New York goalie Henrik Lundqvist recorded 24 saves on 27 shots in the loss. Lundqvist was denied a chance to become only the sixth goalie to record 450 all-time NHL wins.
The first period was scoreless but the Canucks led 3-0 after 40 minutes. Boeser opened the scoring on a power play at 6:07 of the second period as he one-timed a pass from Josh Leivo. The Canucks received a five-minute power play after Chris Kreider took a major and game misconduct for elbowing rookie Elias Pettersson in the head. Pettersson, who suffered a concussion earlier in the season, received a bloody nose and went to the Canucks dressing room for an examination. He later returned to his team’s bench.
Vancouver could not score again on the lengthy man-advantage opportunity, but Motte scored 11 seconds after it expired, at 9:34 of the middle frame. He beat Lundqvist with a forehand-to-backhand deke, then scored again at 9:45 as he fired in Antoine Roussel’s rebound.