CHICAGO _ The Blackhawks took advantage of a second-chance opportunity in overtime and defeated the Sabres, 4-3.
Patrick Kane scored the winning goal off a rebound from a Jonathan Toews shot as the Hawks erased a one-goal deficit late to end a three-game home losing streak.
The Hawks blitzed the Sabres with a strong start, which flipped the script on most Hawks games this season. Instead of the Hawks chasing the puck, they were imposing their will on the Sabres and tallied 11 of the first 12 shots on goal. So naturally, the Sabres got the first goal of the night.
Marcus Foligno took advantage of a Brent Seabrook turnover and fired home a shot from the left circle that beat goaltender Corey Crawford at 7:21.
But the Hawks kept up their pressure on the Sabres and eventually got to goaltender Anders Nilsson thanks to Ryan Hartman. Hartman is known as more of a gritty type of player but showcased impressive skill on his seventh goal of the season.
Hartman had the puck along the boards between two defenders, but Hartman split the Sabres' Taylor Fedun and Kyle Okposo. He maintained possession and got off a wrist shot that beat Nilsson as he was falling down at 16:20.
The Sabres and Hawks played most of the second period as if they spent their energy in the first.
But there was a burst of action late in the period. The Sabres got a power play late and converted against the improved Hawks penalty kill when Okposo stuffed in his own rebound past Crawford at 18:10.
The Hawks had an answer just 18 seconds later from Artem Anisimov. Anisimov pulled a reverse on his defender and instead of going to the corner from the right circle, he swung around and fired a wrist shot that surprised Nilsson at 18:28 to tie the score at 2. It was Anisimov's 17th goal of the season, putting him ahead of Hossa for the team lead.
Jack Eichel gave the Sabres the lead just 1 minute, 10 seconds into the third period when he one-timed a shot past Corey Crawford off a feed from Ryan O'Reilly on a power play.
But the Hawks tied the score late in the third period when Anisimov put home a rebound at 17:56 for goal No. 18.
