RALEIGH, N.C. _ The Blackhawks have done a lot of diagnosing of their problems lately but hadn't found much in the way of a remedy.
From slow starts to the mediocre power play, the Hawks have talked ad nauseum about what they need to do better instead of fixing it on the ice. And Saturday's game against the Hurricanes began in all too familiar fashion for the Hawks _ they dug themselves a hole early and only then began playing.
But this time they had enough in them to come back in a 4-3 overtime victory over the Hurricanes.
Brandon Saad completed the effort with a goal 1 minute, 44 seconds into overtime.
The first period followed a pattern similar to the Hawks' loss in Philadelphia. The Hawks allowed their opponent to dominate the early minutes and it showed on the scoreboard.
The Hurricanes had 14 shots in the first 10 minutes of the game and had two goals. The first came when the Hawks left Hurricanes winger Brock McGinn uncovered near the net. McGinn was able to connect on a backhand swipe of a rebound to beat Forsberg 6 minutes, 53 seconds into the game. The Hurricanes kept mounting the pressure after McGinn's goal and got on the board again thanks to Jeff Skinner at 9:01.
Skinner nearly scored moments before but Brent Seabrook swiped the puck away on the doorstep. But Skinner got the puck back and rang one in from the right circle off the far post.
Before the Hurricanes took the lead, Saad had a chance to put the Hawks ahead with a penalty shot on a short-handed breakaway, but former Hawk Scott Darling was able to make the stop. The Hawks didn't mount any threats until later in the period, but Darling was sharp in net, making 16 saves.
The Hawks carried over the momentum they created from the first period into the second and drew a pair of early penalties on the Hurricanes. They finally converted on the power play _ just their third goal in their last eight games with a man advantage _ when Jonathan Toews hit Alex DeBrincat with a perfect pass as a tripping call against former Hawk Marcus Kruger expired at 7:34.
But despite their strong play to start the period, the Hawks gave it back when McGinn took advantage of a giveaway from Duncan Keith. McGinn skated along the right wing, beat Keith down the ice and fired off another backhander that beat Forsberg at 9:58. McGinn's backhand was the most dangerous weapon on the ice Saturday night.
But the Hawks were undaunted throughout the third period. DeBrincat found pay dirt for the second time of the night when he scored on a one-timer from the slot off a feed from Patrick Kane 3:16 into the period. Then Gustav Forsling provided the equalizer from the left point as his slap shot made it through heavy traffic in front of the net at 11:29 to make it 3-3.
