Blackhawks 6, Senators 5
CHICAGO -- Jonathan Toews scored a natural hat trick, while Andrew Shaw added two goals, including the game-winner, as the Chicago Blackhawks rallied to defeat the Ottawa Senators 6-5 on Tuesday at the United Center.
With his team down 4-2 in the second period, Toews, the Blackhawks captain, decided it was time to take things into his own hands with his third career hat trick.
Toews has five goals and three assists in the Blackhawks' last five games. He's now tied with Patrick Kane for the team scoring lead, both with seven goals each.
But it was Shaw's second goal of the game and third of the season at 14:10 of the third period that proved to be the deciding goal for Chicago (8-2-3).
And what a big goal Shaw's tally was, as Ottawa (4-6-2), which ultimately suffered its third straight loss, came right back 13 seconds later with Zack Smith's third second goal of the season that pulled Ottawa to within one, but no closer.
Chicago now holds a commanding 16-7-2-0 record all-time record against the Senators.
Shaw essentially bookended Chicago's scoring, giving his team an early lead with his second goal of the season on the power play, tipping in a shot from Patrick Sharp past Ottawa goaltender Craig Anderson at 6:54 of the first period.
The goal was originally credited to Sharp, but a lengthy review of video prompted officials to credit to Shaw with the tally.
Ottawa's Milan Michalek scored his third goal of the season to tie the game at 1 with exactly one minute to play in the opening frame.
Ottawa's offensive onslaught continued in the second period, including a power-play goal at 6:51 by Kyle Turris (second of season) that gave the Senators the lead for the first time.
But the Blackhawks bounced right back 50 seconds later when Marian Hossa slipped a perfect pass from Toews past Anderson to tie the game at 2. It was Hossa's fifth goal of the season and 100th career tally as a member of the Blackhawks (439th of his NHL career).
Ottawa wasn't about to fold, though. The Senators rallied back to go ahead 3-2 on defenseman Joe Corvo's first goal of the season at 10:19, and made it 4-2 a minute later on Mika Zibanejad's second goal of the season.
Chicago coach Joel Quenneville saw enough at that point, pulling starting backup goalie Nikolai Khabibulin immediately after Zibanejad's goal and bringing in Corey Crawford, who was supposed to have the night off.
That move sparked the Blackhawks, who scored at 14:30. Toews grabbed a loose puck behind the Senators net, wrapped around and stuck it past Anderson, who was caught out of position.
Toews then scored his second goal of the game 1:20 into the third period, knotting the score at 4. Toews' encore came at 9:13 of the same period to put the Hawks ahead 5-4.
NOTES: Attendance was 21,123. While it still extended the Blackhawks' home sellout record to 235 consecutive games, it was also the smallest crowd thus far this season at the United Center. ... Khabibulin made his third start of the season in goal for the Blackhawks, with the intention of giving Crawford a rest. And he did -- for about a period and a half, that is. Khabibulin is just two appearances away from 800 in his lengthy NHL career. ... Ottawa came into the game not having won in Chicago in more than 12 years. Its last win at the United Center was March 28, 2001. ... Blackhawks defenseman Michal Rozsival remains sidelined with an upper-body injury. ... The Blackhawks now embark on a stretch where their next 18 games will be against fellow Western Conference teams. ... Ottawa plays seven of its next eight games at home. ... Ottawa has stayed relatively healthy thus far this season, having lost just six man-games, the same as Chicago.
