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Third-period outburst leads Blackhawks past Maple Leafs

Oct 21, 2007 - 4:43 AM TORONTO (Ticker) -- On Friday, the Chicago Blackhawks watched a two-goal lead disappear in the third period. Just 24 hours later, they performed some magic of their own.

Defensemen Andrei Zyuzin and Duncan Keith scored 30 seconds apart early in the third and Robert Lang, Patrick Sharp and Tuomo Ruutu tallied later in the session as the Blackhawks erased a two-goal deficit and posted a 6-4 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday.

Jason Williams had a goal and three assists and teenage rookie Patrick Kane set up a pair of tallies for Chicago, which has won four of its last five games.

"We showed a lot of character," said Blackhawks goaltender Patrick Lalime, who turned aside 28 shots. "We've showed that a few times already this season, and it was just a great team effort."

The Blackhawks jumped out to a 3-0 lead over the Colorado Avalanche on Friday before squandering it, needing a late goal by Ruutu to emerge victorious. In this one, Chicago fell behind, 3-1, after two periods before erupting for five tallies in the final session in its first visit to Toronto since February 3, 2004.

"We struggled a little bit in the first two periods, but we knew (the third-period outburst) was coming," Kane said. "Five goals in the third period. You can't ask for much more."

Atoning for an earlier miscue, Zyuzin shoveled a shot past goaltender Andrew Raycroft from the high slot off a feed by the 18-year-old Kane just as the first of two Maple Leaf penalties expired 64 seconds into the session.

Shortly thereafter, Keith received a cross-slot pass by fellow defenseman Brent Sopel and unleashed a shot that beat Raycroft at 1:34 to deadlock the contest at 3-3.

A seemingly harmless wrist shot by Robert Lang from the top of the right faceoff circle at 7:15 sailed by Raycroft and went in off the left goalpost, giving the Blackhawks their first lead of the night.

"It's one of those things when you don't have much on the rush and you just try to pull off a good shot," Lang said. "You need a little bit of luck, but I think the shot was pretty good. I was going one way and shooting the other way."

Less than five minutes later, Sharp tipped Sopel's rising slap shot from the right point out of mid-air and by Raycroft during a power play to make it 5-3.

"When you're up 3-1 at home, you should be feeling pretty good about how you're playing," Toronto captain Mats Sundin said. "The way we came out in the third, we didn't skate well or move the puck well at all."

"It's unacceptable," Maple Leafs center Alex Steen added. "Blowing a 3-1 lead against a team that played the night before is unacceptable. We were working on it, I thought we had it out of our system. But apparently not."

Chad Kilger made it a one-goal game with 2:55 remaining with his 100th career goal, but Ruutu scored into an empty net in the final minute to secure the win for Chicago.

"Good character win," Chicago coach Denis Savard said. "The Leafs are a tough team to come back against, and I'm glad we got it done."

The Blackhawks struck first in this one on the power play.

Rookie Jonathan Toews emerged from the right corner but lost control of the puck near the goalpost. It found its way to Williams, who fired it past Raycroft from the inner edge of the left circle at 4:13 of the first period for a 1-0 lead.

Toews' assist gave him a point in each of his first six NHL games.

"It didn't take much for me to get up for this game," said Toews, a native of Winnipeg who was playing in Canada for the first time as a professional. "It was a night I was looking forward to and it was a lot of fun."

With five seconds remaining on Chicago's second man advantage, Toronto came up with a shorthanded tally to even the contest. Sundin skated in on a breakaway and backhanded the puck inside the left post at 7:43 to forge the tie.

The Maple Leafs moved ahead with 2:52 left in the opening period. From low in the left circle, defenseman Tomas Kaberle threw the puck toward the net. It hit the stick of Zyuzin and got past Lalime, giving Toronto a 2-1 edge.

Sundin extended the advantage in the second period following a turnover. Jason Blake stole the puck from Sharp and skated down the slot as the puck drifted forward, allowing Sundin to swoop in and fire it by Lalime at 13:23 to make it 3-1.

Raycroft made 33 saves for Toronto, which allowed four goals on seven power-play opportunities in losing for the third time in four games.

"We didn't handle the puck well," Maple Leafs coach Paul Maurice said. "We did some strange things with the puck that turned into turnovers. We took way too many penalties in that game."