Robertson scores 2, Maple Leafs defeat Blackhawks

Nicholas Robertson scored two goals to help the Toronto Maple Leafs to a 5-2 victory against the Chicago Blackhawks at United Center on Sunday.

Max Domi had an assist on both of Robertson’s goals, Jake McCabe and Chris Tanev each had a goal and an assist, and Joseph Woll made 25 saves for the Maple Leafs (35-20-2), who have won two in a row and five of six.

Robertson’s brother, Jason, had a hat trick for the Dallas Stars in a 4-3 win against the New York Islanders on Sunday.

“It’s exciting,” Nicholas Robertson said. “I think it’s exciting for my parents. They’ve got two double TVs. They’re jumping off the couch five times tonight. It’s good to see him do well. It’s nice to have a great game, too.”

Teuvo Teravainen and Philipp Kurashev scored for the Blackhawks (17-33-7), who have lost three in a row and six of seven. Arvid Soderblom made 25 saves.

“It’s disappointing after a break,” Teravainen said. “Need to come back and play some good hockey. Just a couple tough losses, back-to-back games (lost 5-1 at the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday). Just got to learn, see some video and get better.”

Teravainen gave the Blackhawks a 1-0 lead at 19:49 of the first period on the power play. He picked up the rebound of a shot from the slot by Ryan Donato after it went off Tyler Bertuzzi in front and put the puck into the upper part of the net with a wrist shot.

It was his 500th NHL point.

“I would never think about it,” Teravainen said. “When I came to the League, I just tried to play it game by game and enjoy the ride. It is pretty special. Makes me think I’ve been here for a while, I guess. Still feel young, but feels good, though.”

Robertson tied the game 1-1 at 7:09 of the second period on the power play. He took a pass in front of the net from Domi and put a one-timer past Soderblom.

McCabe gave Toronto a 2-1 lead at 9:45 with a shot from the blue line off a face-off win by Auston Matthews. Matthews has nine points (one goal, eight assists) on a six-game point streak.

“It’s always nice to contribute offensively,” said McCabe, who played for the Blackhawks in 2021-22 and part of 2022-23. “Obviously, when we hop over the boards our main objective is to keep the puck out of our net, but anytime we can put one in theirs it’s a nice feeling, especially against the old squad.”

Robertson scored his second goal at 19:45 to give the Maple Leafs a 3-1 lead. Domi’s backhand pass from the right wing found Robertson in front, and he put the puck over Soderblom.

Kurashev brought Chicago to within 3-2 at 19:53. Frank Nazar carried the puck to the bottom of the right face-off circle and fed across to Kurashev, who scored while going down to one knee.

“I think like anything else, there was pieces of this game we liked, and there was pieces that we didn’t like,” Blackhawks coach Anders Sorensen said. “It’s not like it’s six bad periods (over the weekend), right? Take the positives and build off of those. And then the stuff we got to clean up, let’s clean it up.”

Tanev made it 4-2 at 12:07 of the third period. His shot from the right circle rebounded off Soderblom and went in off the skate of Blackhawks defenseman TJ Brodie.

Pontus Holmberg scored an empty-net goal at 18:28 for the 5-2 final.

“I thought we picked it up after the first period,” Toronto coach Craig Berube said. “Started to get some O-zone time, establish our forecheck. First period, we didn’t do that. It was fine. We defended well; we didn’t get any offense going. I thought in the second, we got the offense going. The power play got us a big goal, which was important. I thought the third period was fine. We did what we had to do to win the game.”

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