OTTAWA — For the second straight game the Ottawa Senators learned they can ill afford to sit back on a lead.
Saturday night the Senators had a solid start only to see it slip away along with the game as they fell 6-3 to the Chicago Blackhawks.
The Blackhawks (22-30-8) were led by veterans Jonathan Toews, who scored twice, and Patrick Kane, who picked up three assists. Caleb Jones also scored twice with Sam Lafferty and Dylan Strome rounding out the scoring.
Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 20 shots, while Jake McCabe and Seth Jones chipped in with two helpers each.
Connor Brown, Thomas Chabot and Nick Paul scored for the Senators (21-32-5), as Anton Forsberg made 22 saves.
The Senators had a solid start to the first period jumping out to a 2-0 lead, but there was a pall to the opening 20 minutes following a Parker Kelly hit in the opening minutes.
Kelly lined up Connor Murphy along the boards and the Blackhawks defenceman turned at the last moment and slumped to the ice following the hit. He had to be stretchered off. Kelly was assessed a five-minute major and game misconduct on the play.
Murphy did not go to the hospital and is able to travel home with the team.
“Obviously a real unfortunate start, but I heard he didn’t have to go the hospital which is good,” said Senators coach D.J. Smith. “We get the kill, we have a great first period, we score two goals and obviously we, for some reason, laid off just a bit and they probably went to the room and realized their buddy was alright and came out fired up.
“That second period was probably our worst period in a month and in a way they just grinded us and we had no answer for Kane.”
Thursday night the Senators had a 3-0 lead over Seattle and allowed them to come back, but were able to win in overtime.
“It's a game of hockey, mistakes are gonna happen,” said Chabot. “It's what the game is, but for us as a group I think, obviously, we want to fix those, we want to eliminate those and obviously you never want to give up the lead. We knew playing this team that a guy like Kane, he can make anything happen at any time.”
Chicago trailed 2-0 to start the second and led 4-3 by the end of it.
There’s no doubt Murphy’s injury affected his teammates in the first 20 minutes.
“It’s really tough when you see your teammate go down, especially a guy like Murphy,” said Caleb Jones. “He’s kind of a heart-and-soul guy. It’s tough to bounce back. I think we just needed to get our feet under us after the first and we just came back in the second and said, ‘You know what, let’s win this one for (Murphy).”
Toews scored twice, with assists from Kane, in the opening three minutes of the period to tie things 2-2.
The first assist allowed Kane to move him into sole possession of the second spot on the Chicago Blackhawks all-time points leaderboard. Kane now has 1,156 points.
“You kind of just realize how crazy that really is, how long (Kane) has been doing what he’s been doing, and the heights he’s reached at this point in his career,” said Toews. “We all know that he’s not done yet, so, it’s pretty incredible for him. He just seems to continue to do it.”
Chicago took the lead midway through the period on Caleb Jones’ third of the season as he buried it far side from inside the face-off circle off a pass from brother Seth.
Seth and Caleb Jones are the first pair of siblings to factor in the same goal for Chicago since Rich and Brent Sutter in 1994.
The Senators managed to tie the game early in the third when Paul won a foot race for the puck at centre ice, then pulled up and used Caleb Jones as a screen to beat Fleury, but eight seconds later Lafferty scored to make it 4-3 Chicago.
“Probably the game for us is when Paul ties it up, gives us the momentum and they turn around on the next face off and they score,” said Smith. “Then we're chasing the game in the third and we just didn't play the way we play when we're winning games.”
Caleb Jones scored his second at 8:55 and Strome rounded out the scoring tipping a Seth Jones point shot at 10:04.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 12, 2022.
Lisa Wallace, The Canadian Press
