Hawks limp into break after second straight third-period collapse

Eighty-three times in a row, spanning more than two and a half seasons, the Blackhawks turned a two-period lead into at least a point. Seventy-eight of those times, they came away with two points. It was one of the more remarkable streaks in the league, proving that the Hawks were among the game’s ultimate closers.

Not anymore.

The Hawks gave up two goals in a 33-second span late in the third period and lost to the Winnipeg Jets 5-3 on Thursday night. The loss was eerily reminiscent of Tuesday’s loss to Tampa Bay, when Tyler Johnson scored twice in a 30-second span in the third period to snap the Hawks’ 78-0-5 run when leading through two periods.

“We could have had four points, and we [came] away with none,” defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson said. “That hurts. Especially this one, right before the [All-Star] break. Kind of leaves a bitter taste going into the break, not [going to] enjoy it as much. Really disappointed about this one.”

The last game before the All-Star break is notorious for teams mailing it in on their way to a desperately needed weekend off. But while the Hawks were looking forward to a little rest, the Winnipeg Jets had their full attention. Losing three games by a combined score of 9-2 will have that effect.

And while the Hawks played far better on Thursday than in the previous three meetings — they fired 41 shots at Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck and rallied from an early 2-0 deficit after yet another pair of quick-strike goals, these by Patrik Laine and Shawn Matthias 42 seconds apart — they still fell to 0-4 in the season series.

“We played a lot better, the way we needed to play, but obviously it wasn’t there for a full 60 minutes,” Duncan Keith said. “For whatever reason, they’ve had our number this year.”

Giving up two goals in less than a minute three times in two games was particularly galling for the Hawks, who pride themselves on bearing down for “big shifts” after goals, and in the first and last minutes of periods.

The Hawks turned that 2-0 deficit into a 3-2 lead through two periods on goals by Keith (on a power play), Nick Schmaltz and Tanner Kero. But just 4:03 from a happy start to the break, it all fell apart again.

“It’s going to kind of ruin the break a little bit,” Hjalmarsson said. “This one’s going to take a while to swallow.”

Hot hand

Scott Darling (28 saves) got the start ahead of Corey Crawford, not because Quenneville wanted Crawford to get some extra rest ahead of all-star weekend, but simply because Darling had been better of late.

Crawford is 6-5-1 with a pedestrian .903 save percentage since returning from an appendectomy that cost him three weeks. Darling entered Thursday’s game 8-4-1 with a .936 save percentage since Crawford’s surgery, including a 30-save shutout in Boston in his last start.

But there’s no goalie controversy. It’s Crawford’s net.

“I thought he probably had five good periods in a row, [but] the last period, a couple got by him,” Quenneville said. “But other than that, I thought he was moving, he was sharp he looked quick, he was anticipating well. [Darling]’s last performance is probably the biggest reason.”

Roster report

Michal Rozsival was “banged up” during Wednesday’s practice, according to Quenneville, and did not participate in Thursday’s morning skate. Quenneville didn’t expect the veteran defenseman — who has been a healthy scratch in 17 of the previous 20 games — to miss much time.

Marcus Kruger returned to the lineup for the first time since injuring his hand on Dec. 30. He centered the third line and was back in his usual spot on the penalty kill.

Dennis Rasmussen (sick) missed just his second game since entering the lineup on Oct. 15.

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