Jones' OT goal caps off furious Blackhawks comeback

The NHL season is a grind.

It's 82 games of high-octane hockey that tend to take a toll at some point.

So is it OK to expect a few off nights over the course of six months?

"Oh, I don't know," said Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane on Tuesday morning. "We're all competitors. So even when you find yourself in (a tough) situation, you still want to show your teammates - maybe even more importantly - show yourself that you still care and you still want to do well no matter what the circumstances are out there.

"We've seen that throughout the lineup this year where guys aren't giving up (and) are playing to the end."

Kane was referencing the Hawks' 8-5 loss to Seattle on Sunday in which his team fell behind 6-1 after 13 minutes, 11 seconds. After wretched performances like that, players often pick up the pace when the next opportunity arises.

And that's what happened at the United Center on Tuesday as the Hawks posted a 4-3 OT victory over Buffalo by storming back from a 3-1 second-period deficit.

Defenseman Seth Jones tied the game at 3-3 with 55.8 seconds remaining on a long shot from just inside the blue line. Jones then notched the game-winner by tipping in a Tyler Johnson pass with 2:36 remaining in overtime.

"We're playing for pride, we're playing for our fans," said Jones, who now has 4 goals on the season. "You know there's no quit in here."

This was Jones' first 2-goal game since March 18, 2021 when he scored the OT winner in Columbus' 3-2 victory over Carolina. He finished with 9 total shots, 4 on goal.

It was hardly a pretty game for the Hawks, who were being outshot 20-5 at one point.

The ugliest moment came in the second period with the Hawks on the power play. After Max Domi mishandled a pass that came along the sideboards from Patrick Kane, the puck squirted directly to a charging Peyton Krebs. Five seconds later, Krebs backhanded a shot past Petr Mrazek to make it 3-1.

After what happened against Seattle, that goal felt like a true dagger. But instead of wilting, the Hawks just wouldn't go away.

"You know, we didn't start the way we wanted to in this game," Jones said. "After the second (period) we came in here and it was all positive talk and what we needed to do and tie it up and get back in the game. And we did that."

Philipp Kurashev (6) and Connor Murphy (4) also scored for the Hawks, who went 4-3-0 on this seven-game homestand.

"We wanted to finish off strong here at home," said coach Luke Richardson. "We wanted this game and they really played like it. Seth led the way."

The Hawks (12-26-4) play at Philadelphia on Thursday and at St. Louis on Saturday before returning home to host Los Angeles.

Stalock out:

The Hawks were planning to start Alex Stalock against Buffalo, but were forced to put the goalie in concussion protocol after he was bumped in practice Monday.

Stalock has been the Hawks' most consistent netminder, going 6-6-1 with a .918 save percentage and 2.70 goals-against average. He missed almost two months while in concussion protocol after taking a big hit from the Islanders' Casey Cizikas on Nov. 1.

"You never know how things react with people," coach Luke Richardson said. "We're just going to take precaution and put him (in) that protocol right now, and just hopefully it settles down quicker than last time."

Jaxson Stauber served as Petr Mrazek's backup against the Sabres on Tuesday.