OTTAWA -- It must be almost spring. The Chicago Blackhawks are heating up.

The Blackhawks, winners of three Stanley Cups in the last seven years, claimed their third victory in a row when Richard Panik's power play goal with 3:01 left in regulation gave them a 2-1 decision over the Ottawa Senators at Canadian Tire Centre on Thursday.

The Blackhawks (45-20-5) are three points ahead of the Minnesota Wild atop the Central Division standings. Since losing three in a row near the end of January, Chicago is 15-3.

"I think we've confidence in our team game now, especially over the last month, month and a bit, the way we've progressed as a team," said Duncan Keith, who also scored for the Blackhawks. "We just want to keep getting better. One thing we know in this group is never to get too high or too low. We're still a ways away from playoffs. We could win every game for the rest of the year up until playoffs and it doesn't really matter. We like the way we've been playing."

Kyle Turris scored for the Senators (39-23-7), who lost their last two since the end of a six-game winning streak. Ottawa coach Guy Boucher had no qualms with the way his team performed.

"It's just sad it ends this way, because I don't think we deserved no points tonight," Boucher said. "Clearly we deserved one at least.

"I thought we were great the whole game, It's hard to blame our players for anything, really. I thought we were terrific in all phases of the game. We pushed, guys were dedicated, we were playing the price.

"This is a playoff game against the standard in the league. Once you're able to measure yourself toe-to-toe with the standard in the league, I think you can take a lot of positives from that."

Senators goaltender Mike Condon and Blackhawks goalie Scott Darling were exceptional, making 26 and 33 saves, respectively. First blood in their duel was drawn by Keith, whose slap shot from the point went in off a skate at 8:04 of the third.

Turris tied it up again at the 11:23 mark, 12 seconds after Brent Seabrook went off for tripping, when he one-timed a pass from Erik Karlsson for his 23rd of the season.

Darling didn't see the shot because of the screen provided by Bobby Ryan.

"I've been practicing hard and I felt ready," said Darling, who improved to 17-5-2 while making his first start since March 1. "I felt good out there."

The Senators outshot the Blackhawks 13-6 in the third, but penalty trouble proved to be their undoing. Derick Brassard went off for slashing at 14:15 and wound up two men short for 23 seconds when Marc Methot followed him to the box on a similar infraction.

Panik's goal, a shot from the bottom of the left wing circle after taking a pass from Patrick Kane, was scored with Methot still in the box.

Panik's goal was his 18th of the season as he continues to have a career year. His previous season high was 11.

"One thing about him, he's one of those players he's got a lot of skill, high end," Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville said. "He's like the power forward, that if he brings that consistency, he can get to the next level. He showed in the second part of the season he's starting to put it together shift in and shift out, with more regularity game in and game out. He hits, goes the net, can shoot a puck, he can skate. And he's got an amazing shot. He's had a real good year for us.

"I don't know if you could budget how many goals he was going to get for us at the beginning of the year, but certainly we like his contribution."

The Blackhawks next game is Saturday in Toronto while the Senators play Saturday at Canadian Tire Centre in a home-and-away weekend series with the Montreal Canadiens.

NOTES: Blackhawks RW Marian Hossa, a first round pick of the Senators in 1997, played his 1300th game ... Blackhawks RW John Hayden played his first NHL game ... Blackhawks healthy scratches were RW Tomas Jurco, D Michal Rozsival, D Michael Kempny and C Dennis Rasmussen ... Senators G Craig Anderson didn't dress for the second straight game because of a "lower-body" injury, but continues to practice. Coach Guy Boucher ruled him out for this weekend's games against the Montreal Canadiens but said he was "possible" for Tuesday's visit to Boston ... Senators healthy scratches were F Chris DiDomenico and D Jyrki Jokipakka ...