NHL Game Summary - Ottawa at Chicago
Chicago, IL (SportsNetwork.com) - Scott Darling dazzled in his NHL debut to lead the Chicago Blackhawks to a 2-1 victory over the Ottawa Senators on Sunday.
Darling, a native of Chicago suburb Lemont, Illinois, turned aside 32 shots to help the Blackhawks snap a two-game skid. Darling was recalled earlier in the week after starting goaltender Corey Crawford went down with an upper-body injury.
"The guys played great, helped me out a lot," Darling said.
Jonathan Toews and Brent Seabrook both scored for the Blackhawks in the win.
Milan Michalek tallied Ottawa's lone marker and Craig Anderson stopped 43- of-45 shots for the Senators, who were coming off a 3-2 overtime loss to New Jersey on Saturday.
"I think the second period again rose for us was an issue. I thought we played too much in our own zone," Senators head coach Paul MacLean said.
Skating 4-on-4, Toews took a pass from Duncan Keith, skated up the left side behind the net and beat a diving Anderson with a wraparound to open the scoring 21 seconds into the second period.
Just over a minute later, Andrew Shaw was awarded a penalty shot after being hauled down by Chris Phillips. Anderson was up to the task, making a glove save to keep it a one-goal game.
The Senators tied the game at the 7:08 mark of the second. Alex Chiasson deked past a defender at the left circle and backhanded a pass across the slot to Michalek, who beat Darling with a snap shot for a short-handed goal.
After Phillips went off for interference, Brad Richards dished the puck to Seabrook, who slapped home his first of the season for a 2-1 lead with 6:22 left in the middle stanza.
Darling stopped all 16 shots fired his way in the third to secure his first win.