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Recap: Donato delivers in Blackhawks’ 2-1 overtime win over Ducks

Originally posted on The Rink | By Sean Fitzgerald | Last updated Oct 20, 2025 1:45 PM ET

Follwing a shootout loss to the Vancouver Canucks on Friday, the Chicago Blackhawks returned to action to take on the Anaheim Ducks on Sunday. The Blackhawks continued their lines featuring 11 forwards and seven defensemen. Landon Slaggert made his season debut in place of the injured Jason Dickinson.

While the Ducks are also a young team, they now have a veteran coach in Joel Quenneville. This was Quenneville’s first appearance at the United Center since being reinstated to the NHL.

First and second periods

To be frank, very little of consequence happened in the first 40 minutes, sending things to the third deadlocked at 0-0.

Third period

The Hawks finally got the scoring started with a goal from Frank Nazar midway through the stanza.

#franksway pic.twitter.com/Esa9BPQrpJ

— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) October 20, 2025

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Unfortunately, the Hawks’ lead evaporated late in the third period on a goal from Mason McTavish.

Overtime

In overtime, Connor Bedard played the majority of the session. With a little more than a minute remaining overtime, Bedard found Ryan Donato for the game-winner.

BEDARD TO DONATO AND THE HAWKS WIN IN OVERTIME!!! pic.twitter.com/MA17k5bzob

— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) October 20, 2025

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Analysis

The Hawks recorded at least a point in their fourth consecutive game with the overtime win. While the win was great, there were some negatives. The Hawks once again took too many penalties with five, while Anaheim only took three. The Wyatt Kaiser delay-of-game penalty was costly in that MacTavish tied the game on that power play.

Now onto to the positives of the game, Bedard and Spencer Knight were spectular in the win. Despite not scoring a goal in the game, Bedard was peppering Lukas Dostal with dangerous shots all game. He recorded a career-high nine shots on goal in this one. He also spent the majority of overtime on the ice and skated the length of the ice on the game-winning shift.

In addition to Bedard being very good, Knight had another stellar performance for the Hawks. In his 100th career game, he saved 38 of 39 shots for a .974 save percentage. Knight continues to keep the Blackhawks in games with his stellar play.

On defense, the Blackhawks got good games from three of their youngest on the blue line. Sam Rinzel was the best defenseman on the ice. Kaiser was solid in his own zone and contributed the primary assist on the Nazar goal. Artyom Levshunov played well and appeared to be more physical in this contest.

With the game-winning goal, Donato has now recorded a point in four straight games. As a streaky offensive player, it is great to see him streaking in the right direction.

The Hawks now get a breather, as their next game is not until Thursday in Florida against the Tampa Bay Lightning.