Vladimir Tarasenko powers Blues past Blackhawks in Winter Classic

ST. LOUIS — Underneath all the pomp and circumstance of the Winter Classic, all the talk about rain delays and possible postponements, all the pyrotechnics and family skates and throwback uniforms and alumni events, there was a game to be played. Not just any hockey game — a division game, a rivalry game, a game, a regular old hockey game.

And it was a game that the Blackhawks really wanted. Not just because of the big stage or even the heated rivalry with the Blues. Having limped into 2017 with four losses in their last five games, the Hawks badly needed a win.

Instead, their outdoor misery continued with a 4-1 loss at Busch Stadium in front of a sellout crowd of 46,556. Vladimir Tarasenko broke open a tight game with two goals in less than two minutes in the third period, sending the Hawks to their fifth loss in six games.

The Hawks fell to 1-4-0 in outdoor games, including 0-3-0 at the Winter Classic.

“We wanted to do a better job, put together a better performance in these outdoor games,” said Patrick Kane, echoing a familiar sentiment from the 2015 Winter Classic in Washington and last season’s Stadium Series game in Minnesota. “For whatever reason, we just haven’t come out on top, and haven’t really played too well in them. It’s frustrating because it’s on a national stage, there’s a lot of hype, and you want to put a good show on for your fans. Maybe sometimes we think too much about that, instead of just going out there and playing a simple game.”

Corey Crawford was brilliant all game and did everything he possibly could to steal another win for the Hawks. But Tarasenko banked a puck in off Niklas Hjalmarsson’s skate to make it 2-1 at 12:05 of the third, then fired a shot past Crawford 1:53 later. Alex Steen sealed the win with an empty-netter.

Far more concerning than the outdoor woes — a quirky issue that pops up just once a year — is the fact that the Hawks scored just one goal for the third time in five games. They have just eight goals total in those games. The Hawks were outshot 34-23 on Monday, and 0-for-3 on the power play. And missing Marian Hossa doesn’t justify the sudden lack of offensive punch.

“We’re not getting the production we could use,” Joel Quenneville said. “Production’s been down a bit, whether we get it from our power play or top guys.”

It was misting and foggy all morning, with the Gateway Arch fading in and out of the St. Louis skyline above right-centerfield throughout the day. It morphed into a steady drizzle by game time, but the show went on. The ice conditions are rarely perfect in such events, and this one was no different. The puck was skittering about and taking funny bounces — and that worked to the Hawks’ advantage just 62 seconds into the game.

Michal Kempny scored the second-fastest goal in Winter Classic history when his one-timer from the point off an Artemi Panarin pass knuckled forward and skipped off the ice, bounding over Jake Allen’s left shoulder and into the net for a 1-0 Hawks lead. Kempny, who was scratched in nine of 10 games before returning to the lineup last week, has scored in consecutive games, the first two goals of his career.

Patrik Berglund banged in a nice centering feed from Jay Bouwmeester at 7:45 of the second period to tie it, and then the pace — and the intensity — picked up from there, as it often does in both outdoor games and Hawks-Blues games. At one point, Crawford — who joked that he’d hit the batting cages if there were a rain delay — took a two-handed baseball swing at David Perron after Perron tripped him in the crease. And after Robby Fabbri boarded Vinnie Hinostroza, Joel Edmundson delivered a two-handed cross-check right to the recently injured back of Jonathan Toews during a post-whistle skirmish.

Crawford opened the third period by stopping a Tarasenko breakaway, and made several other big stops as the Blues outshot the Hawks 7-0 in the first 10 minutes of the third. But Tarasenko’s fortunate game-winner deflated the Hawks, and things unraveled from there.

“You never want it to be a goal like that, obviously,” Trevor van Riemsdyk said. “But that’s the game. You knew in this kind of environment, where it’s tougher to string together some pretty plays like that, it was probably going to come down to something fluky like that.”

And given the Hawks’ recent history and their outdoor history, it was probably going to come down to a loss, too.

“We’ve been playing good hockey,” Crawford said. “We just need that extra. Have to find a way to win some games. [We’re] taking games to the end, and then it just blows up on us. But we’ll be OK. We’ve got a ton of skill.”

Email: mlazerus@suntimes.com

Twitter: @marklazerus