'Brutal, brutal' loss for Blackhawks
Even on a night when he broke out of a slump by scoring just his third goal in 21 games, Patrick Kane's rough luck continued.
It was a high-sticking penalty on Kane that helped turn a big rally by the Blackhawks into a 5-4 loss to the Flyers on James van Riemsdyk's power-play goal with 33 seconds to play.
That's how close they were to getting to overtime and salvaging at least 1 point. Brent Seabrook and Kane had scored 25 seconds apart minutes earlier to bring the Hawks back from a 4-2 deficit.
“Brutal, brutal loss,” Hawks coach Joel Quenneville said. “Fighting back from 4-2, we had it where we needed it to be. I'm frustrated we didn't get it to overtime.”
The Hawks allowed 46 shots (21 in the second period) in an uneven performance defensively that should have general manager Stan Bowman stepping up his efforts to find help on the back end.
“They put a lot of pucks at the net,” Quenneville said. “We gave up some high-quality stuff in the second period. Second opportunities is what we need to be better at.”
Quenneville did like what he saw from rookie defenseman Dylan Olsen in his NHL debut. Olsen played 9:48 and had 3 shots, 1 hit and 1 block.
Rookie winger Andrew Shaw had an even more dramatic debut with a goal in the second period that put the Hawks ahead 2-1. Shaw also fought Zac Rinaldo on his second shift and needed 10 stitches to close a cut about his left eye.
“We fought before in junior,” Shaw said. “He challenged me there and I don't like saying no, so I decided to square up with him.”
Jimmy Hayes, the third rookie in the lineup for the Hawks, also scored a goal, his second in as many games.
“I liked them all,” Quenneville said of his trio of rookies. “They all did a great job. I thought they all played real well.”
Shaw's goal came on a backhander at 7:37 of the second period, but the Flyers' Scott Hartnell quickly answered 17 seconds later to make it 2-2.
The Flyers took a 4-2 lead out of the second period on goals 23 seconds apart by Harry Zolnierczyk and van Riemsdyk.
Brent Seabrook scored to make it a 1-goal game at 14:15 of the third period just as a four-minute high-sticking penalty to Patrick Sharp expired.
Kane tied it at 14:40 with his 10th goal and first since Dec. 18 with a shot from in the slot after a steal by Jonathan Toews.
The winner by van Riemsdyk came on a nice passing play with Hartnell and Claude Giroux.
Ray Emery made 41 saves in a losing cause as the Hawks dropped their second in a row and ninth straight in Philadelphia during the regular season dating to 1996.
It was the Hawks' first trip back to the building where they won the Stanley Cup in 2010, but this was no revenge win for the Flyers.
“That's in the past,” van Riemsdyk said. “It's always nice beating those guys because they are a very good team.”
tsassone@dailyherald.com