Blackhawks-Senators Preview

Patrick Kane will try to claim a piece of Chicago Blackhawks history Thursday night and help his team avoid a season-high losing streak.

Kane will seek to tie Bobby Hull's franchise-record point streak when Chicago visits the Ottawa Senators.

Kane put himself on the verge of matching Hull's 21-game streak by scoring in Tuesday's 2-1 loss to Minnesota. The NHL's point leader with 38, Kane has 12 goals and 20 assists in the longest streak by an American-born player and the NHL's longest since Sidney Crosby's 25-game run for Pittsburgh in 2010-11.

"It would be nice, especially when a guy like Bobby Hull has the record, but it's not really something I'm thinking about," Kane said. "But I'm not really worried about it anymore. ... I'm just trying to play the game and help my team the best I can."

The Blackhawks (13-9-3) were coming off a 3-2 overtime defeat in Los Angeles to conclude a 3-1-2 road trip. They've lost back-to-back games on five occasions and responded from their latest skid by beating San Jose 5-2 on Nov. 25.

Chicago will try for another decisive win against a team that's given up a combined eight goals in its own set of back-to-back defeats and 15 while splitting its last four games.

Ottawa lost 4-2 to Philadelphia on Tuesday in its return from a three-game road trip. The Senators (12-7-5) tied that game twice but couldn't come up with an equalizer following Wayne Simmonds' goal late in the second period.

"I think we were tired today," captain Erik Karlsson said. "I think you could feel that. Unfortunately, the way it is sometimes. They did a tough job on us. I think we created enough scoring chances to win, but we couldn't put the puck in the net.

"It's just one of those games that we have to move on. I think we're doing a lot of good things and we still have a great feeling in the room."

Ottawa also lost forwards Milan Michalek and Mika Zibanejad during that game with Michalek's injury looking more long term. Michalek was hit in the hand by a shot from the Flyers' Radko Gudas, and Zibanejad was hit in the face by the defenseman.

Michalek's injury could prove significant as he had seven goals and two assists in his previous 10 matchups with Chicago.

The Blackhawks have won five of the last six games against Ottawa and swept last season's two matchups. They won 5-4 in a shootout in their lone trip to Ottawa on Oct. 30 with Jonathan Toews scoring a pair of goals.

Kane failed to register a point and has one assist in his last four matchups.

Toews, meanwhile, has six goals and two assists in his past four meetings, and Marian Hossa has totaled five goals and five assists in a seven-game point streak versus his former team.

Hossa has also scored a goal in each of his last four visits to Ottawa.

Toews and Hossa, however, haven't been too productive lately. Hossa has one goal and one assist in his last six games while the Chicago captain doesn't have a point in his past three.