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Running All the Way Home: Senators 4, Blackhawks 3 (OT)

The Teuvo/Donato Show rolled along in a losing effort.

Posted on by Eric Gegenheimer
Mandatory Credit: David Banks-Imagn Images

The Blackhawks took on the Senators for the first time this season and played a mostly entertaining, back-and-forth game that Ottawa ultimately won 4-3 in overtime.

The Senators struck just 2:30 into the first after Artem Zub threw a shot on net from the point that Brady Tkachuk redirected past Arvid Soderblom:

Ottawa goal! Scored by Brady Tkachuk with 17:35 remaining in the 1st period. Assisted by Artem Zub and Jake Sanderson. Chicago: 0 Ottawa: 1 #OTTvsCHI #Blackhawks #GoSensGo

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— NHL Goals (@nhlgoals.bsky.social) March 5, 2025 at 6:51 PM

With 12 minutes gone, a misplay in the Ottawa zone found its way to Landon Slaggert, and Slaggert dropped a pass back to Ryan Donato who tucked it behind a sprawling Linus Ullmark to tie the game at one:

Chicago goal! Scored by Ryan Donato with 08:22 remaining in the 1st period. Assisted by Landon Slaggert. Chicago: 1 Ottawa: 1 #OTTvsCHI #Blackhawks #GoSensGo

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— NHL Goals (@nhlgoals.bsky.social) March 5, 2025 at 7:05 PM

Just 45 seconds later, the Hawks were given a power play on a Tkachuk interference call and a Teuvo Tervainen centering pass bounced off Ullmark and right back to Teravinen, who tapped in the rebound to give the Blackhawks a 2-1 lead:

Power play goal for Chicago! Scored by Teuvo Teravainen with 07:38 remaining in the 1st period. Assisted by Tyler Bertuzzi and Alex Vlasic. Chicago: 2 Ottawa: 1 #OTTvsCHI #Blackhawks #GoSensGo

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— NHL Goals (@nhlgoals.bsky.social) March 5, 2025 at 7:11 PM

With 5:30 left in the first period, a Drake Batherson center from behind the Hawks’ net kicked up off Alec Martinez’s skate and David Perron batted it out of the air to tie the game at two:

Ottawa goal! Scored by David Perron with 05:51 remaining in the 1st period. Assisted by Drake Batherson and Josh Norris. Chicago: 2 Ottawa: 2 #OTTvsCHI #Blackhawks #GoSensGo

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— NHL Goals (@nhlgoals.bsky.social) March 5, 2025 at 7:15 PM

Halfway through the second period, Batherson fed Josh Norris for a perfectly placed one-timer to give the Senators back the lead:

Ottawa goal! Scored by Josh Norris with 09:31 remaining in the 2nd period. Assisted by Drake Batherson and Jake Sanderson. Chicago: 2 Ottawa: 3 #OTTvsCHI #Blackhawks #GoSensGo

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— NHL Goals (@nhlgoals.bsky.social) March 5, 2025 at 8:01 PM

Two minutes into the third period, Pat Maroon drove the net and walked two defenders, controlled his own rebound, then found a streaking Craig Smith, who blasted it by Ullmark to tie the game at three:

Chicago goal! Scored by Craig Smith with 18:13 remaining in the 3rd period. Assisted by Patrick Maroon. Chicago: 3 Ottawa: 3 #OTTvsCHI #Blackhawks #GoSensGo

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— NHL Goals (@nhlgoals.bsky.social) March 5, 2025 at 8:41 PM

That’s where the game stayed through 60. Then, just 46 seconds into overtime Tim Stutzle drove hard into the crease before bumping the puck (and Soderblom) into the goal for the game-winner:

Notes

Ottawa is fighting for their playoff lives, and they certainly played like it for the majority of the game. A loss tonight would have put a significant dent in their playoff odds:

The Senators were buzzing early, and their game plan seemed to just be taking the neutral zone away from the Hawks and forcing them outside, which absolutely worked as both of the Blackhawks even-strength goals resulted from individual broken plays as opposed to generated, sustained offense.

Speaking of those goals, it’s probably no surprise that both Donato and Teravainen scored again tonight, as they’ve been the primary offensive contributors for the better part of the last few weeks. Donato now has 17 points (8 G, 9A) in his last 11 games, while Teuvo is on a six game point streak (3 G, 5 A), and is now tied for the overall team scoring lead with Connor Bedard.

Anders Sorensen sending Donato out with Bedard and Alex Vlasic to start overtime certainly felt fitting, considering there’s a distinct possibility this was Donato’s last game as a Blackhawk. He’s been a fantastic story this year, but I think he’s played himself into being so valuable in a true seller’s market (did you see what the Kraken just got from Tampa?!?) that it would be borderline negligent if Kyle didn’t trade him.

And if the Kings are interested after getting a firsthand looking the other night (they’ve also been scouting the Hawks like crazy the last few weeks), then I’m putting this out into the universe. And yes, I know it would take a whole lot more than just Donato:

If Donato does go, the Blackhawks need to figure out a way to get Bedard going, because I think we’re all genuinely concerned at this point. The obvious solution continues to be playing him with Teuvo (who is fifth in the entire NHL with 27 assists over his last 32 games), but for whatever reason Sorensen seems to be allergic to the idea. Rick Ball even made a point of mentioning during the broadcast that someone recently asked Anders that very question, only for Sorensen to reply that Teuvo’s line has been playing so well that he didn’t want to jinx it.

The new look Bedard, Frank Nazar, and Colton Dach line didn’t do much. While they were the Hawks’ second-best possession line to the tune of a 52.38 percent shot attempt share, they only generated four shots while giving up seven, failed to get a single-high danger chance, and got clocked with an expected goals rate of just 22.40 percent, which was the lowest of any line in this game.

This is certainly not a game that Dach will want to look back at anytime soon. He made a brutal turnover early in the third period when he tried to walk Ottawa’s line, then gifted Ridly Greig a breakaway. He also lost the puck after a great feed from Nazar on a 2-on-1 when he tried to pull it to his backhand instead of shooting. I appreciate that Sorensen still gave Dach shifts in the third after the turnover and didn’t immediately bench him (as opposed to Andreas Athanasiou, who skated a grand total of 6:58 tonight).

After Spencer Knight’s spectacular debut on Monday, I was curious how Soderblom would respond. While it probably wasn’t his best game — Soderblom ended up at minus-1.9 goals saved above expected — I have a hard time hanging any of Ottawa’s four goals on him specifically. It’ll be interesting to watch the dynamic develop between Soderblom and Knight, as hopefully they can push each other while they split the remainder of the starts this season. It sounds like Petr Mrazek is pretty much done here:

The one Senators’ goal that everyone might be talking about for a while was the game-winner:

I really don’t see all that much of an issue. Stutzle uses a start/stop to blow by Wyatt Kaiser, then it’s Kaiser’s momentum that forces Stutzle into Soderblom, and Stutzle certainly didn’t kick the puck in intentionally. Sometimes those are just the breaks.

Game Charts

Three Stars

  1. Drake Batherson (OTT) — 2 Assists
  2. Ryan Donato (CHI) — Last goal as a Blackhawk?
  3. Teuvo Teravainen (CHI) — Goal

What’s Next

The Blackhawks finish off their homestand with a game against the Utah Hockey Club on Friday night at 7:30 p.m.

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