Blackhawks fall to Quenneville-led Panthers as Robin Lehner suffers rare off-night

Robin Lehner’s dominance has become so commonplace that his latest impressive streak entering Tuesday — the Blackhawks were 9-1 in his previous 10 starts — was barely noteworthy.

No goalie is perfect every night, however, and Lehner finally looked human. He conceded four goals in the second period in the Hawks’ 4-3 loss to the Panthers, a disappointing ending to an eventful game day at the United Center.

“Honestly, I thought we played well,” Lehner said. “I kind of let the team down today. I should’ve made a couple more saves.”

Beaten once on a side-of-the-net jam-in in which he could’ve been more committed to hugging the post and later on an unscreened shot from the faceoff dot that ripped through the five-hole, Lehner had several plays that he’d like to have back.

Despite the flawless first and third periods, he finished with only 22 saves on 26 shots.

“I just needed to find a way to stop the bleeding a little bit and pick myself up,” Lehner said. “Felt better and then they scored a fourth goal off the skate, but I started the bleeding with the first goal, and it was unfortunate that we couldn’t stop it early enough.”

The Hawks, trailing 4-1 at the second intermission, put together a valiant third-period effort, but it ultimately fell short.

Joel Quenneville’s system, which worked so well for more than a decade in Chicago, has clearly settled in well in south Florida, too.

The Panthers boast a deep, well-rounded forward group that Hawks coach Jeremy Colliton raved about after the game — their depth was exemplified by relative no-name Frank Vatrano’s hat trick — and that group’s effort proved enough to halt the Hawks’ five-game winning streak.

Colliton redirected the blame for the loss to the team overall, rather than specifically point to Lehner.

“He’s been great for us; he’s won some games for us that we probably weren’t the better team,” Colliton said. “Definitely not going to stand here and lay it on him at all. The focus for me, when addressing the team, was how we responded in the second period to the adversity. We’d love to turn it around quicker.”

Toews, Keith scrap

Tuesday started with a jarring sight: Jonathan Toews and Duncan Keith skirmishing during the morning skate. The confrontation ended with Toews on top, pulling Keith’s jersey off.

Both players resumed practice as usual within a minute — though Keith was the first player to leave as soon as the main portion of it ended — and Toews brushed off the conflict as a non-event after the skate.

“Just a little friendly wrestling,” Toews said. “The whole point of coming out for morning skate is to get yourself ready to go for tonight’s game. I think we’re ready now.”

Colliton also smiled when asked about it, comparing it to the occasional conflict between brothers.

Kane honored

Patrick Kane was honored for his 1,000th career point, which he picked up Sunday, during a pregame ceremony.

Accompanied by his family, Kane was feted with a Jumbotron video tribute that replayed his milestone assist along with many notable moments in his career.

He was then gifted a silver puck by his first coach with the Hawks, Denis Savard, and an engraved glass plaque by the late Stan Mikita’s wife, Jill.