OTTAWA — A year ago the Blackhawks kicked off the season with a 10-1 statement win against the two-time reigning Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins.
This time around, not so much. But they'll absolutely take it.
Trailing 3-2 late in the third period, Patrick Kane connected with Brent Seabrook for the game-tying goal then finished the job 38 seconds into overtime by roofing a backhander past Craig Anderson as the Blackhawks defeated the Ottawa Senators 4-3 at Canadian Tire Centre on Thursday.
"For the first game of the season I think it was a little bit sloppy to start and you saw that in the first period, giving up three goals," Kane said. "But [Jonathan Toews'] line scored a couple nice goals, [Alex DeBrincat] with the big shot, and we just stayed with it. Kind of a good feeling too to be down like that and have a comeback win, especially for the first game of the season, give us a little confidence, so I think overall everyone was pretty pumped up after the game and happy to get the two points for the first game of the season."
That's an area the Blackhawks had a difficult time in last season, is continuing to battle and claw their way to two points. Heck, even one point. Anything to keep them afloat.
Sometimes winning ugly can be better than winning pretty because you steal two points when you maybe don't deserve it. You take what you can get in a league that's becoming more competitive from top to bottom.
"That's kind of something we've been stressing throughout training camp," Kane said. "We know how important points are and if we can get ourselves in a position where we're down a goal and come back and find a way to tie it and get it to overtime, see what happens after that like we did tonight, we're going to be in good shape. We feel like we're a pretty good overtime team. Big comeback, huge goal by Seabs there and nice to finish it off at the end.
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"We've been talking about being relentless in here and being resilient. I think you give up three in the first. ... You never want to be down going into the third but to have a finish like that where you're coming back and tying it up and winning it in overtime we were pretty pumped up afterward."
The Blackhawks preached all training camp of getting off to a strong start. It's crucial towards finding yourself in the playoff hunt. It's hard to make up ground in the standings, especially in the Central Division.
Take the two points and move on. Pretty or not, it counts the same in the standings.
"We needed a win," coach Joel Quenneville said. "And obviously the way we won it, not many nights you’re going to come back when you look at the last five years of teams with a lead in the third period. Finding a way to get the points when you’re behind, they’re difficult. Over the course of a year, you might get a few games like that. We’re happy about that. I thought we settled down with what we were giving up in our own end. We were a little bit too unpredictable but I thought we battled when the game got on the line and at the end, real pleased to get off to a positive start."
Here are three other takeaways from the win:
2. No-quit Cam Ward
After allowing three goals on 10 shots in the first period, you could hear fans in Chicago sigh, "here we go again," reminding themselves of Ward's second preseason start when he gave up six goals on 17 shots.
Not so fast. Ward turned aside the next 15 shots he faced and kept the Blackhawks in it with a massive power-play save on Mikkel Boedker in the second period.
"He just didn't quit tonight," Kane said. "That's a big way to bounce back. He kind of had that preseason game and then giving up three in the first when none were really his fault but they were going in the net, so for him to bounce back and shut the door the last two periods gives us a lot of confidence in him and I'm sure he's feeling pretty good about it, too."
3. Henri Jokiharju draws rave reviews in NHL debut
There were times when Jokiharju looked like a rookie out there playing in his first NHL game. There were also times when he looked like he belonged on the top pairing playing against the opponent's top players.
Jokiharju logged 19:16 of ice time, recorded five shot attempts (three on goal) and three hits in his Blackhawks debut, drawing rave reviews from his future Hall of Fame coach.
"I thought he was excellent," Quenneville said. "I thought he had a tremendous game. All aspects of his game — his gap, his presence in the puck area, his decision-making offensively and defensively, supporting the attack. Looked like he’s played the game for a long, long time at this level."
4. Top line sets the tone
This is exactly what Quenneville envisioned when he put Toews, DeBrincat and Dominik Kahun on the first line together. And it's what they need to continue to do going forward.
The trio was generating scoring chances all night, found the back of the net twice in the first period that set the tone — a DeBrincat snipe and Toews odd-man break goal — and dominated the faceoff circle thanks to Toews, who won 20 of 29 draws (69 percent).
"He played really well," Kane said of Toews. "That line was creating a lot of odd-man rushes just by making simple plays and having support all over the ice so that's something they can do really well. He's got two young kids [on his line], I think he's kind of embraced that. Give him credit, he scored a big goal there in the first."