INSTANT ANALYSIS: Blackhawks 'Gift Wrap' Canes Comeback Victory at Home

The Blackhawks, at one point on Wednesday night, looked to have turned a corner in their season, up by a pair of goals in the middle of the second on the league's hottest team while controlling a good chunk of the offensive play. But by the early going of the third, Chicago was trailing 4-3 and couldn't climb back as the Hurricanes completed the two-game season sweep.
"It's another hard lesson," head coach Jeremy Colliton said. "But I would like us to stop learning hard lessons and respond with a change in how we think about the game."
"We were in a good spot, up 3-1. We've got to find a way to win that game," added Alex DeBrincat, who netted a pair of goals in the loss. "We've just got to battle hard for the full 60. We let up for a couple minutes there and there's a couple in our net."

POSTGAME LINKS
GAMECENTER: CHI vs. CAR
RECAP: Blackhawks Fall Late to League-Leading Canes 
HIGHLIGHTS: DeBrincat, Kane Score in Loss to Hurricanes
GALLERY: Blackhawks vs. Hurricanes

MISSED OPPORTUNITY

The Blackhawks were looking to build momentum on Wednesday night following the first win of the season. For half the game, they were doing just that, up 3-1 at the midpoint of the night. But Carolina pulled back within one before the end of the second, then netted a pair of goals in the opening minutes of the third to pull ahead and never look back.
"We keep shooting ourselves in the foot," Seth Jones said postgame. "At the start of the third, we give up a goal the first shift and then give up another one. Going into the third period with a one-goal lead against Carolina, we have to be able to lock it down, make simple plays and not beat ourselves. That's what you see happening through these first 10 games: We're beating ourselves and we're giving up free chances."
"Very disappointing way to lose," Colliton said. "It's a terrible feeling when we put ourselves in a great position, you give them life, give them momentum, give them their goals. Up 3-1 at home midway through the second period, that should be enough to close the game out.
"We gift wrapped them an opportunity to get back in the game. Hard to watch it happen… The teams that win, they handle it much better than we did."

POWER OUTAGE

The power play that has been the offensive catalyst for most of the year had several prime chances to tie the game in the third period. A pair of power plays six minutes and 10 minutes into the third and a four-minute advantage in the final 5:30 of the game yielded several good looks, but the Hurricanes' penalty kill that ranks third in the league remained perfect on the night.
"It is," Jones said when asked if the missed chances were frustrating. "They're one of the top penalty kills in the league, they pressure pretty hard. We had some looks and it didn't go."
"They've got a great penalty kill. They way they kill, it really scrambles things," Colliton added. "We created some chances. We had some excellent chances where guys were alone by themselves, we just didn't score… The fact that the power plays were kind of stacked up worked against us. If they're spread throughout the game, maybe it's a little easier. That's not why we lost the game (though). Let's not get distracted by that."

BACK AND FORTH

Coming into tonight tied for the team lead in goals with four apiece, DeBrincat and Patrick Kane traded chances early on Wednesday night as the Blackhawks got out to a 3-1 lead in the opening half of the game.
DeBrincat potted his fifth of the year just 95 seconds into the game on a breakaway, Kane made it a 2-0 game early in the second with a silky tip in the slot and then DeBrincat finished the double off a feed from Philipp Kurashev in transition.
"Feels good, but obviously we want to win games here. It doesn't really matter, individual success, until we start have team success," DeBrincat said. "We have to bear down here, figure out how to win games and get back in the race."
The duo, along with Brandon Hagel, have accounted for 11 fo Chicago's last 12 goals dating back to last Wednesday's game against Toronto.