OTTAWA, Ontario _ Richard Panik's power-play goal late in the third period propelled the Blackhawks to a 2-1 victory over the Senators.
Panik scored from the lower left circle 16 minutes, 59 seconds into the period off a feed from Patrick Kane, who sent the assist from behind the net. It was Panik's 18th goal of the season.
The Hawks also extended their lead in the Central Division to three points over the Wild.
Scoring was hard to come by for most of the night until a Duncan Keith slap shot from the point trickled through the pads of Senators goaltender Mike Condon 8 minutes, 4 seconds into the third period.
The Seantors responded with a power-play goal from Kyle Turris at 11:23 before Panik put the Hawks ahead for good.
But the story of the night was the goaltending of Scott Darling, who was back in net for the Hawks after he suffered an upper-body injury on March 3. Coach Joel Quenneville said there was nothing wrong physically with Corey Crawford, Quenneville just wanted to get Darling a start and Darling responded with 33 saves against his friend Condon, who had 26 saves.
Winger John Hayden is making his debut with the Hawks after signing with the team last week out of Yale. He was playing on the top line with Jonathan Toews and Panik.
