The Chicago Blackhawks continued their Canadian road trip against the Ottawa Senators. This matchup was against former Hawks Alex DeBrincat and Tyler Motte. On the night, the Senators raised Chris Neil’s No. 25 to the rafters in his retirement ceremony. Neil is the fourth Senators number retired and is one of three players to dress for 1,000 games with the Senators.
- Patrick Kane got the scoring started with a goal less than a minute into regulation. It would be the only goal of the first period. Despite the injured hip, Kane got the Blackhawks off to the early lead.
- In the second period, Shane Pinto tied the game up at 1–1. Pinto tipped in a Derick Brassard shot from the point.
- In the third period, the Senators got goals from Claude Giroux and Brady Tkachuk to go up 3–1. The Blackhawks answered back with goals from the red-hot Sam Lafferty and Kane.
- The Senators and Blackhawks went into overtime tied at 3–3. In overtime, Andreas Athanasiou raced down the ice to find Tyler Johnson. Johnson fanned on the shot and then sent it back to Anthansiou for the game-winner.
- With the win, the Blackhawks are now once again two points ahead of the Columbus Blue Jackets for the worst point total in the NHL.
With the trade rumors swirling, Kane put together an impressive two-goal performance. In addition to Kane playing well, Lafferty put together another solid performance and keeps enhancing his trade value before the March 3 deadline. Another hot name from the Blackhawks is defenseman Jake McCabe. McCabe has been one of the best defenders on the Blackhawks and has an appealing contract for contending teams. The expectation is that McCabe and Lafferty could be had for the right price at the deadline. The Kane situation is very murky with the status of his no-movement clause still unknown.
The Blackhawks’ next opponent has already begun adding pieces for their Stanley Cup run. The Toronto Maple Leafs acquired Ryan O’Reilly in a three-team trade with the St. Louis Blues and Minnesota Wild on Friday night. The Hawks take on the Leafs take on on Sunday at 5 p.m. CST at the United Center.