Stutzle lifts Senators past Blackhawks in OT, runs point streak to 13

CHICAGO -- Tim Stutzle scored 46 seconds into overtime to give the Ottawa Senators a 4-3 victory against the Chicago Blackhawks at United Center on Wednesday.

Stutzle moved in on Chicago defenseman Wyatt Kaiser and scored from the edge of the crease when the puck went in off his skate, extending his point streak to an NHL career-high 13 games (19 points; five goals, 14 assists). The goal was upheld upon video review when it was determined the puck deflected off Stutzle’s skate and entered the net in legal fashion, and that he did not interfere with goalie Arvid Soderblom.

“Our video guys had it as a good goal,” Ottawa coach Travis Green said. “I thought they made the right call.”

Josh Norris had a goal and an assist, and Jake Sanderson and Drake Batherson each had two assists for the Senators (31-25-5), who had lost six of their previous seven games (1-5-1). Linus Ullmark made 17 saves.

“It’s huge,” Batherson said. “In the Eastern Conference right now it’s so tight. Every game matters for us, no matter who we play. We’ve got to come and try to get a win. Obviously last game (a 5-4 shootout loss at the Washington Capitals on Monday) we came close. Coming into tonight we really needed that one. Big goal there by Timmy.”

Ryan Donato, Teuvo Teravainen and Craig Smith scored for the Blackhawks (19-35-8), who had won two in a row. Soderblom made 22 saves.

“Yeah, I think we've been playing great the last three games,” Chicago forward Patrick Maroon said. “We should be proud of ourselves. But I think we talked among the group, like, going forward here, we want to be about .500 going into the end of the season here.

“So we want to battle as much as we can, and we want to play good hockey and build good habits and play the right way and learn how to play the right way for a long period of time, instead of just one game at a time. And then we have three bad ones. So the boys stuck with it tonight. They're (the Senators) a desperate hockey team, as you guys know, they're fighting for a (playoff) spot. So we got their best tonight. I thought we handled it pretty well.”

Brady Tkachuk made it 1-0 for the Senators at 2:25 of the first period, scoring with a tip of Artem Zub’s shot from the right point.

Donato tied it 1-1 at 11:38. After the puck came off the end boards on a dump-in, Ullmark pushed it to the right of the crease, where Landon Slaggert gathered it and fed Donato in front for a backhand. It was Donato’s 100th NHL goal.

Teravainen’s power-play goal put Chicago ahead 2-1 at 12:22. Teravainen threaded a pass through the crease to Tyler Bertuzzi, whose shot was blocked. The puck came back to Teravainen at the left side of the crease, where he tapped it in and extended his point streak to six games (nine points; three goals, six assists).

David Perron tied it 2-2 at 14:09 when he batted in a pass from behind the net by Batherson.

“It wasn’t always pretty tonight,” Perron said. “But I felt like we didn’t give them much. A couple weird bounces went in. Other than that, it felt like a pretty defensive sound game and something we’re going to have to get comfortable in, I think, too, as we go here. Massive way to get a point to start and get the second one.”

Norris put the Senators in front 3-2 at 10:29 of the second period. Sanderson sent a pass to the top of the slot to Batherson, who fed Norris for a one-timer from the right face-off circle.

“Great play by [Sanderson] to keep that in (the zone),” Norris said. “I was screaming at Drake for that one. I think he was going to shoot it, so I’m just glad it went in.”

Smith tied it 3-3 at 1:47 of the third period, scoring from the bottom of the right circle off Patrick Maroon’s pass from behind the net.

“I thought the second and third (periods) were good,” Blackhawks interim coach Anders Sorensen said. “We were tentative in the first period for whatever reason again. It wasn’t even the whole first period but the first 10-12 minutes, similar to the L.A. game (a 5-1 win against the Los Angeles Kings at home on Monday). So, for whatever reason we come out a little tentative and don’t take enough initiative. When we do, then I thought it was much better. The last 4-5 minutes of the game was good overall. Didn’t give up much. We didn’t get much, but it was tight checking.”

NOTES: Stutzle became the fourth player in Senators history with a point streak of at least 13 games, following Batherson (13 games in 2022-23), Marian Hossa (13 games in 2002-03) and Dany Heatley (twice; longest streak was 22 games in 2005-06). Stutzle also became the fourth German-born player to record three or more 20-goal seasons in the NHL, behind Leon Draisaitl (nine), Marco Sturm (seven) and Walt Tkaczuk (six). … Blackhawks center Connor Bedard has gone eight straight games without a goal and seven straight without a point. … Donato extended his point streak to an NHL career-high six games (nine points; four goals, five assists).