Blackhawks squander three-goal lead, lose in overtime

Tomas Jurco draws a penalty as he slips between Tampa Bay defensemen Braydon Coburn (left) and Luke Witkowski during the first period Monday night. (AP Photo)

TAMPA, Fla. — Maybe it would be different if the Minnesota Wild were still in front, or even nipping at the Blackhawks’ heels. Or if the San Jose Sharks hadn’t dropped off a cliff. Maybe then, the Hawks would be able to summon the effort and desperation that the Tampa Bay Lightning — frantically chasing the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference — had Monday night.

“Maybe that last 10 percent [of effort hasn’t] been there,” defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson said after the Hawks saw a 4-1 lead turn into a 5-4 overtime loss, their second straight defensive disaster. “I don’t know what it is. Maybe it’s getting close to the end here and we’re getting a little bit too comfortable. As soon as you do that, you’re going to lose games.”

This one wasn’t anywhere near as bad as the 7-0 obliteration the Hawks suffered Saturday night in Florida against the Panthers. In fact, the Hawks dominated the Lightning for about 55 minutes of regulation. But those other five minutes — when the Lightning erased a three-goal deficit with three goals in 4:35 in the second period — was all it took, setting the stage for Yanni Gourde’s overtime winner shortly after Andrei Vasilevskiy robbed Patrick Kane on a breakaway.

“I thought we were 100 percent better than we were the last game,” Hawks coach Joel Quenneville said. “We had everything going our way there, and we started getting cute in the neutral zone and [made] some poor turnovers, gave them some rush chances, [made] some poor clears. . . . We’ve got to be better with the puck.”

It started as expected, with the Hawks coming out strong after their humiliation. Artemi Panarin scored on a one-timer, Kane finished off a great play by Hjalmarsson, and Tomas Jurco got his first goal of the season off a terrific effort in the crease. When Richard Panik followed his own shot to make it 4-1 at 8:47 of the second, the Hawks were well on their way. But then they let up.

Jonathan Drouin scored on a redirect at 11:49 to make it 4-2. Anton Stralman scored 58 seconds later to make it 4-3. And Drouin tied the game on a power-play goal. At this point, Scott Darling had allowed seven goals on 26 shots in his last three periods. But Hjalmarsson said that was on everybody.

“We can’t let in 12 goals in two games,” he said.

The Hawks outshot the Lightning 10-1 through the first 15 minutes of the third period. But the Lightning withstood the onslaught and got the game to overtime, where Gourde ended things with 35 seconds left.

“I’m glad we’re playing like this before the playoffs, so we can make some adjustments and get back to it,” Hjalmarsson said.