Losers of three straight games, the Blackhawks were struggling a bit entering Monday night, but it was nothing a game against the lowly Maple Leafs couldn’t fix.
Playing without Marian Hossa, Chicago jumped out to an early lead in the first period thanks to a pair of goals from Brandon Mashinter and Andrew Shaw.
Little more than two minutes into the game, Mashinter gave the Blackhawks a 1-0 advantage with a top-shelf laser from the faceoff dot.
Wow, I did not expect this from Brandon Mashinter. He goes top cheese to give the Hawks an early 1-0 lead. pic.twitter.com/IDBRIf7DUG — Blackhawks Breakdown (@HawksBreakdown) February 16, 2016
The unassisted goal was Mashinter’s third of the season.
Shaw made it 2-0 with a power-play goal that was originally credited to Jonathan Toews. Honestly, it’s nearly impossible to tell which of the three Blackhawks actually got the puck into the net.
Andrew Shaw Power Play Goal Marlies 0 Blackhawks 2 pic.twitter.com/GwQUT9kOlV — Blackhawks Breakdown (@HawksBreakdown) February 16, 2016
Stats via ESPN
