Chicago Blackhawks end skid at 6 on Ryan Donato’s OT winner and Frank Nazar’s 2 goals in Patrick Kane’s return

Patrick Kane didn’t fill the stat sheet Thursday night, but his return from a three-game injury absence helped the Chicago Blackhawks snap a six-game losing streak with a 3-2 overtime victory against the Buffalo Sabres at the United Center.

Ryan Donato scored the winner on a wrist shot 3 minutes, 12 seconds into OT and Frank Nazar added a pair of goals for the Hawks, who won for just the second time in 11 games.

“Obviously wasn’t pretty after the last game,” Kane said of the Hawks’ 9-2 loss to the defending champion Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday. “You get a few days off, a lot of practice time, and just to come in and be focused and ready to go and get the job done is a good feeling.”

The Hawks (5-13-1) activated Kane from injured reserve hours before puck drop Thursday. The right wing suffered an undisclosed upper-body injury Nov. 2 against the Colorado Avalanche, missing the third period of that 5-2 loss.

Before the injury, he was leading the Hawks in assists with eight but had struggled to find his goal-scoring touch. Kane’s lone goal came in the Sept. 29 opener in Las Vegas.

“He’s had a lot of chances,” coach Jeff Blashill said after morning skate. “His shooting percentage is like 4%, (but) I know it’s not going to stay that way.”

The franchise great had 25 shots on goal in 15 games before Thursday and added four against the Sabres (8-7-4). He skated on a line with Andrew Mangiapane and Anton Frondell in practices this week but was moved back to a line with Nazar and Oliver Moore.

Despite Kane not registering a point, the line produced. The trio had seven shot attempts, four scoring chances and a 63.6% Corsi For percentage when on the ice together.

“We didn’t start it that way, but I went quickly back to (that line),” Blashill said postgame. “I do think that could be a real dynamic line, and they proved that tonight.”

The Hawks lost all three games without Kane — road contests against the Florida Panthers, Tampa Bay Lightning and Carolina Hurricanes.

“I feel like there’s times in the games where we’re doing some good things,” Kane said before the game. “It’s a tough league, you play against Colorado, Florida, Tampa and Carolina and don’t have a full lineup, it’s tough. It’s definitely a wake-up call, but at the same time, I thought we did some good things throughout the game. (We’ve) just got to sustain it.”

One of the points of emphasis for Blashill was limiting the opponent’s breakaways.

“I thought our defensive details were good,” the coach said. “We checked hard … (and) we just have to continue to do that.”

Despite the strong defensive effort, the Hawks found themselves trailing late. First-period goals from defenseman Owen Power (9:00) and center Tage Thompson (15:46), sandwiched around Nazar’s power-play goal, had the Sabres up 2-1 in the third.

Nazar tied it at the 8:22 mark, giving his second multigoal game in his last four. His seven goals are second on the Hawks to Roman Kantserov’s nine. Kantserov, meanwhile, assisted on Nazar’s first goal to extend his point streak to nine games. That’s the second longest for a rookie in franchise history, one behind Steve Larmer and Jonathan Toews.

Both of Nazar’s goals came from net-front, something he’s starting to take advantage of.

“Definitely is a thing that we talked about this week,” Nazar said. “Getting to the net, screening the goalie more, winning those those box-outs and that fight to the net. Continue to do that and good things will happen.”

Added Blashill: “It allows (Nazar and Connor Bedard) to work it a little bit lower. When you work it lower, there’s just more options off it. So many people press up high if you get up high, so it’s allowed Connor to play a little bit lower, which is what we want out of him.”

Nazar noticed a difference with Kane back on the ice.

“He knows what he’s talking about, and it’s just a good presence to have,” Nazar said. “He’s making plays and everything, so it’s definitely a plus.”

After a few missed opportunities, including a hooking penalty on Sabres defenseman Rasmus Dahlin that gave the Hawks a power play with 1:38 left in regulation, the game went into overtime. Frondell made a play on Power that appeared to be interference, allowing Donato to get open for the game-winner.

Donato wasn’t feeling well but played through it. He and the Hawks will take the win.

“I think I’ve been praying every single day to get a bounce and get one in, and prayers ran through tonight,” Donato said. “I don’t know if I had a virus come in the last seconds. … I felt terrible. Said a couple extra prayers to get those bounces and just bear down and got one tonight.”

klumpkins@chicagotribune.com