Toews sinks a pair to lead Hawks past Oilers

Captain Serious knows when he is needed and he came up big, scoring twice for the Chicago Blackhawks, including the game winner with 76 seconds to play in Edmonton Wednesday (August 5, 2020) against the Edmonton Oilers.

Jonathan Toews’ goal, 76 seconds from the final buzzer put the Hawks in front to stay and moved them to within a win of qualifying for the Stanley Cup playoffs as they grabbed a 2-1 lead in their Best of Five Qualification Series.

The Hawks scored first and led 2-1 after a period but trailed 3-2 heading into the final 20 minutes.

Matthew Highmore fired his first of the post season to tie it up with 5:47 to play and it was a perfectly placed point shot from Olli Maata that opened the scoring near the halfway mark of the opening period.

Leon Draisaitl notched the first two Oilers’ goals, tying the game at 1-1 just seconds after Maata’s second of the post season and evening it again at 2-2 4:07 into the middle period.

Connor McDavid notched his fifth of the series eight seconds from the end of the middle frame giving the Oilers its first and only lead of the contest.

Oilers held a slim 28-25 edge in shots, Corey Crawford Crawford turning aside 25 for his second win of the series while Mikko Koskinen managed 21 saves for his first loss, evening his record at 1-1.

The Hawks spread the offense around well, Toews, Maata and Alex Debrincat each collected three shots in the contest. Patrick Kane, the offensive lead in the first two contests was limited to a pair of shots.

For the Oilers, Draisaitl and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins both triggered a half dozen shots.

The experienced vets continue to be the ones relied on for the Hawks. Duncan Keith saw his ice time boosted once again to 26:47 on the blue line, Calvin DeHaan, and Connor Murphy both crossing the 20-minute plateau on defense as well.

Kirby Dach turned in an impressive 23:21 up front while Kane was on for 22:36 and Toews for 21:16.

For the Oilers, Oscar Klefbom was called on for 27:07 on the blue line while Darnell Nurse, Ethan Bear and Kris Russell each went past the 20-minute plateau.

Up front, Draisaitl was on the ice for 24:22, McDavid for 21:10 and Nugent-Hopkins for 20:36.

The Hawks were 1-for-6 on the pp with the first Toews’ goal coming with an extra attacker. McDavid responded with a powerplay goal for the Oilers, their lone goal on three powerplay tries.

The Hawks could wrap up the series and a berth in the Western Conference Quarter-Finals with a win in Game 4 which starts at 5:45 p.m. CST in Edmonton Friday. The Hawks will hold home ice advantage once again in that contest.

If needed, the fifth game would be played Saturday.