Blackhawks rally, defeat Senators on Toews OT goal

OTTAWA -- Jonathan Toews scored 42 seconds into overtime to give the Chicago Blackhawks a 3-2 win against the Ottawa Senators at Canadian Tire Centre on Tuesday.

Toews took a pass from Patrick Kane just inside the Ottawa zone, skated the puck to center ice before re-entering the zone, went around the net, and scored with a wrist shot from the high slot past goalie Marcus Hogberg.
"We really can't afford to lose many games right now," said Toews, who had two assists. "We weren't too happy with our start. All the guys came in here (after the first period) -- it wasn't just a few of the guys, it was everyone -- and kind of acknowledged that we had a lot better than that."
WATCH: [All Blackhawks vs. Senators highlights]
Dominik Kubalik scored twice to extend his goal streak to five games for the Blackhawks (21-20-6), who came back from down 2-0 for their second straight win and third in five games. Robin Lehner made 20 saves.
"It was a pretty bad game out there, to be honest," Lehner said. "Not much happened. I don't think we played that great, they didn't play that great. They got a couple bounces, but you know what, we stuck with it."
Connor Brown had a goal and an assist for the Senators (16-22-8), who have not won in eight games (0-4-4), their longest streak of the season. Hogberg made 27 saves.
"I don't think we worked hard enough," Ottawa coach D.J. Smith said. "It's simple. I just think they outworked us for the last two periods.
"We started to play their game, in the second period, especially. They quick-upped us a ton, and their big guys had the puck way too much. If we put it behind them and grind them and make them play some defense, they don't get as much offense."

Brown scored off a Dylan DeMelo rebound to give the Senators a 1-0 lead at 3:33 of the first.
"Our second periods as of late haven't been nearly good enough," Brown said. "We addressed it between periods too. We come out with a game plan and we execute it in the first period, and we seem to slowly get away from it. So it's just about putting a full 60 (minutes) together. We're learning in here."
Chris Tierney finished a give-and-go with Thomas Chabot on the rush to make it 2-0 at 7:21.
Kane's wrist shot from the slot deflected off Kubalik's shin pad and in to cut it to 2-1 at 17:20 of the second.

Kubalik scored his second goal of the game with a snap shot that beat Hogberg five-hole to tie it 2-2 at 3:41 of the third. He has seven goals in his streak.
"He set me up a couple times," Toews said of Kubalik. "Made some plays to [Kane], made some plays to me. … I think his all-around game is getting better and better, and I think that's a big reason why he's eventually getting to those scoring areas and getting scoring chances."
In his return to Ottawa, forward Zack Smith played 12:54 and had one hit and two takeaways. Smith, who played his first 612 NHL games for the the Senators, was acquired by the Blackhawks in a trade for forward Artem Anisimov on July 16, 2019.

They said it

"He's got confidence. He's skating the puck, he's been really clean with it, I think. That's a big factor. There's times in the game where you have a chance to make a play and give yourself an opportunity, your linemates an opportunity … you have the other team in a bad spot, and if you're clean with it, then you're going to get a chance. To me, that's a big thing for him. He's making those plays." -- Blackhawks coach Jeremy Colliton on forward Dominik Kubalik
"He's been great. He was the best player on our team tonight." -- Senators coach D.J. Smith on goalie Marcus Hogberg

Need to know

Kane had two assists and has 12 points (four goals, eight assists) during a seven-game point streak. He is three points from 1,000 in the NHL. ... Kubalik's goal streak is tied with four others for the second longest by a rookie in Blackhawks history. He is the first Chicago rookie to score in five straight since Jeremy Roenick from Jan. 27-Feb. 10, 1990, and is two games shy of matching Darryl Sutter's Blackhawks record, set from Feb. 4-17, 1981. ... Six of Hogberg's past seven starts have ended in either overtime or the shootout.

What's next

Blackhawks: At the Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday (7:30 p.m. ET; SN, RDS, NBCSCH, NHL.TV)
Senators: Host the Vegas Golden Knights on Thursday (7:30 p.m. ET; TSN5, RDS2, ATTSN-RM, NHL.TV)