Blackhawks’ strong third period not enough

The Blackhawks played a great third period Tuesday night.

Unfortunately for them, their first two periods left a little to be desired.

The Hawks tried to rally from a 3-0 deficit with 2 goals in the third period but fell short in a 3-2 loss to the Penguins, snapping their five-game winning streak.

The Hawks generated little traffic or offense in the first 40 minutes and took some penalties that hurt them. They were short-handed seven times.

“You could say for 60 minutes, playing that way, we’d be in a much better spot,” said Hawks coach Joel Quenneville of the third period.

A controversial hit by Pittsburgh’s Deryk Engelland on Marcus Kruger early in the first period led to the Penguins’ first goal by Chris Kunitz on a power play and gave them all the momentum.

The Hawks should be expecting a suspension for Engelland for leaving his feet to deliver a forearm to Kruger’s head along the boards — a play that wasn’t penalized by referees Chris Lee and Rob Martell.

When John Scott jumped in for Kruger and fought Engelland, bloodying the Penguins’ defenseman, he was socked with 17 minutes in penalties — two for instigating, five for fighting and a 10-minute misconduct.

With Scott in the box, Kunitz split defenders Niklas Hjalmarsson and Nick Leddy to beat goalie Ray Emery.

“To be short-handed like that was a tough turnaround,” Quenneville said. “They got a lot of momentum and you could look at that as a critical point in the game.”

But Quenneville didn’t fault Scott for coming to Kruger’s side.

“He did the right thing,” Quenneville said.

Scott, no fan of the instigator rule, thought Engelland should have been penalized for the hit on Kruger.

“I’m always going to stand up for my teammates,” Scott told reporters. “I’m going to do that every time.”

Kruger took a few shifts after the hit but ultimately had to leave the game as a result of the head shot.

“He’s OK now, but we’ll have a better idea tomorrow,” Quenneville said. “It was a high hit in a tough area.”

Naturally, Penguins coach Dan Bylsma defended Engelland.

“It was a full body check,” Bylsma said.

Quenneville used Patrick Kane at center for Kruger in the third period, and Kane helped fuel the comeback.

But as good as the Hawks were in the third, getting goals from Jonathan Toews and Viktor Stalberg, athletic Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury was a shade better. Fleury finished a big night with 36 saves.

“They kept coming at us and it was a little stressful,” said Fleury, who improved his record to 17-7-2.

Kane drew a tripping penalty on James Neal with 1:29 remaining, but the Hawks couldn’t cash in even after Emery was pulled for a 6-on-4 power play.

“Fleury was big in the third, and he had to be,” Bylsma said.

The Penguins also got goals from Neal and Tyler Kennedy with Evgeni Malkin assisting on all 3 scores. Malkin now has 15 points in the last six games.

tsassone@dailyherald.com