Tavares gets first hat trick with Maple Leafs in win against Blackhawks

CHICAGO -- John Tavares had his first hat trick with the Toronto Maple Leafs and Morgan Rielly scored 19 seconds into overtime in a 7-6 win against the Chicago Blackhawks at United Center on Sunday.

Patrick Kane scored twice in 55 seconds late in the third period to help send the game to overtime. He tied it 5-5 at 18:36 before Matthews put the Maple Leafs back in front at 18:58. But Kane then made it 6-6 at 19:31 with his fourth goal of the season.
Rielly won it for Toronto (2-1-0) when he skated into the offensive zone with the puck, cut to the slot and put a wrist shot past Cam Ward.
WATCH: [All Maple Leafs vs. Blackhawks highlights]
"I think it's just great to come out on top," Tavares said. "I think those are not ones you want to get in all the time. They're certainly exciting and it certainly gets the emotions kind of up and down."
Jonathan Toews, Alex DeBrincat, John Hayden and Brandon Manning also scored for the Blackhawks, who are the first team in NHL history to open a season with three straight overtime games (2-0-1). Ward made 27 saves.
"It was kind of nice to go back and forth there," Kane said. "Wish we could have gotten another one there in overtime, get the win and have this crowd into it. It's a tough loss in that regard."

Auston Matthews had two goals and an assist and Kasperi Kapanen scored for the Maple Leafs. Garret Sparks made 25 saves in his first NHL start since April 9, 2016. Sparks was born in Elmhurst, Illinois.
"He made a huge save there at the end and he was pretty solid all night," Matthews said. "A couple of goals are on us in our D zone. But in his hometown, happy to get the win for him."
Toews gave the Blackhawks a 1-0 lead at 9:00 of the first period after redirecting Dominik Kahun's shot. It was his fifth goal of the season and fourth in two nights.
DeBrincat extended Chicago's lead to 2-0 at 12:02 of the first period.
Kapanen made it 2-1 at 14:09 of the first period on a snap shot over Ward's glove.
Matthews tied it 2-2 at 14:33 of the first period off a backhand pass from Kapanen.
Tavares scored his first of the game at 3:56 of the second period after the puck bounced off Zach Hyman to give the Maple Leafs a 3-2 lead.

Hayden tied it 3-3 at 5:37 of the second period when he beat Sparks between the pads.
Tavares gave the Maple Leafs a 4-3 lead at 7:37 of the second period with a power-play goal.
Manning tied it 4-4 at 2:20 of the third period off a slap shot from the point.
Tavares' third goal of the game gave the Maple Leafs a 5-4 lead at 9:29 of the third period when he knocked the puck out of mid-air past Ward.
"I want to be as consistent as I can," Tavares said. "So I prepare myself and expect a lot of myself on a nightly basis with and without the puck. I feel like things keep improving, keep getting better, keep feeling more comfortable, and I still know there's room for growth and ways to get better."

They said it

"It was probably fun for the fans, a lot of entertainment out there. Obviously, it was going in on both nets. We had a lot of good plays. They were flying, we were standing there watching them at the start; I don't know if that's too much respect or what that was at the start, but once we got playing I thought we did a real good job. Yet the puck kept going in on our net. I thought we were home free a few times, but that never happened." -- Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock
"It was a pretty crazy game [in] a lot of ways with the quality of chances and the quality of goals. The way it ended was a different level of unpredictability; [we] come back twice in the last minute and change to tie it. You're fortunate, but you don't want to give up the sixth one." -- Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville

Need to know

Tavares is the fourth Maple Leafs player in the NHL's modern era (since 1943-1944) to score a hat trick within his first three games with the team, joining Miroslav Frycer (1981-82), Jeff O'Neill (2005-06) and Matthews (2016-17). … It was Rielly's first overtime goal in the NHL. He has two goals and four assists in a three-game point streak. … Matthews has opened the season with three straight multipoint games (five goals, three assists). … The Blackhawks held a pregame ceremony for Hall of Fame forward Stan Mikita, who died Aug. 7 at the age of 78. Following a video montage, his wife, Jill, dropped the puck in a ceremonial face-off. … Henri Jokiharju, 19, became the youngest Blackhawks defenseman to have three assists in one game. … Kahun had his first two NHL points.

What's next

Maple Leafs: At the Dallas Stars on Tuesday (8:30 p.m. ET; FS-SW, TSN4, NHL.TV)
Blackhawks: At the Minnesota Wild on Thursday (8 p.m. ET; FS-N, FS-WI, WGN, NHL.TV)