Hawks' rally falls short in OT loss to Canucks

Individually, it would be difficult to find current NHL players better than Marian Hossa and Patrick Kane.

Hossa had his third straight 2-goal game Wednesday night, and Kane is now the league's leading scorer (62 points) after netting a goal and adding a pair of assists.

As a team, however, the Blackhawks still are scuffling.

A furious rally late in the third period was impressive, but after erasing Vancouver's 2-goal lead the Hawks lost to the Canucks 5-4 at the United Center when Daniel Sedin scored at 1:20 of overtime.

"We had a very sloppy first half of the game," coach Joel Quenneville said. "I didn't like the goals we gave up tonight. It seemed like every goal they had, we had the puck in a good position and it ended up going the other way and in our net."

After Kane put the Hawks in front with an unassisted score (No. 27) early in the second period, Vancouver came back with 3 straight goals in less than seven minutes to seemingly seize control heading into the final 20 minutes.

"We couldn't get our breakouts out together," Hossa said. "We were chasing pucks too much and we didn't have many scoring opportunities until the end. In the end we put so much pressure on them and we were getting more confidence in their zone. But in the beginning, it wasn't good enough."

The Hawks haven't been very good since the calendar flipped to 2015, going 8-8-2.

Quenneville hasn't been happy, but he is not yet pointing any fingers, particularly at a defense that has been leaky of late.

"Tonight, I think it was more not defending; it was the poor decisions we made with the puck that led to all their action," Quenneville said. "Sometimes you've got to keep it simple. There's nothing wrong with trying to make direct plays.

"We made some good plays in the offensive zone, but some of the decisions we had with the puck were tough to watch."

Hossa has been a pleasure to watch the past three games, and the 36-year-old winger now has 16 goals after scoring another pair against the Canucks.

"It's been good," Hossa said of his scoring surge. "When the puck's going in for you, just try to put it back at the net, and that's my goal right now. Good things are happening."

Said Quenneville: "He's on a little bit of a roll. He's putting pucks in the net. It was fortunate there to get one that tied it (at 4-4), but that's what happens when you get a little bit of confidence and things are going your way. We've just got to keep riding it."

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