Lehner almost saves Chicago Blackhawks, who fall in OT

Robin Lehner hasn't thrown up many stinkers this season.

But as the Blackhawks left for their off week after a 4-3 loss to Florida at the United Center on Jan. 21, a bummed-out Lehner sat in front of his locker lamenting a rough second period in which he allowed 3 goals in under six minutes.

"I should've made a couple more saves," the 6-foot-4, 240-pound goalie said. "I started the bleeding with the first goal and it was unfortunate that we couldn't stop it early enough."

Two weeks later - facing perhaps the best team in the league in the Boston Bruins at the UC on Wednesday - Lehner prevented what could have been an absolute bloodbath by turning away 16 first-period shots and 10 of 11 in the second period.

Boston ended up prevailing 2-1 in overtime when a speeding Charlie McAvoy tapped in a perfect feed from Jake DeBrusk with 3:41 remaining.

The Hawks appeared to take a 2-1 lead with about a minute to go in regulation when Drake Caggiula raced down ice and fired a shot that beat goalie Jaroslav Halak.

One problem, though.

The refs messed up and blew the play dead after whistling Torey Krug for tripping.

"He said it was his mistake," a stoic Jonathan Toews said.

The potential lost standings point could turn out to be huge, of course, but coach Jeremy Colliton didn't dwell on the blown call afterward.

"I mean it's disappointing," said Colliton, whose team is 25-21-8 and 6-1-2 in the last nine games. "There will be another night where we come out on the other end of it. These things have a way of evening out.

"But it's disappointing because it would have been a big 2 points for our team. ... They're an excellent team and we grinded it out. That's the type of home game that we haven't played so much of where it wasn't necessarily pretty but we find a way."

The Hawks' goal came when Alex DeBrincat scored on the power play at 6:50 of the second period. Boston tied it six minutes later when Sean Kurlay got away from Duncan Keith, worked his way into the right slot and ripped a shot that beat Lehner.

Lehner turned away 38 shots, with 3 coming in highlight-reel fashion near the end of the first period as he:

• Snared a Brad Marchand shot with 2:22 remaining with the Bruins on the power play.

• Looked like an all-star shortstop by backhanding a David Krejci attempt from just 10 feet away with 1:51 remaining.

• Blocked another Krejci attempt after a Duncan Keith turnover behind the net.

That wasn't it, either, as Lehner came out of the crease and used his right leg to steer away a Karson Kuhlman shot two minutes into the second period, and then used his head - literally - to deflect a blistering David Pastrnak one-timer three minutes later.

"They were really good at finding open guys and making seam passes cross-ice, and a couple empty nets that he's diving around, getting hands and feet on pucks," Toews said. "He's a huge reason we had a chance to win."

This was Lehner's first appearance since the loss to the Panthers, and he was more than happy with how the Hawks matched up against the Bruins (33-10-12).

"All in all, that's one of the best teams in the league there," Lehner said. "We stuck with it and we hung with 'em. It could easily been us that had the win today. There's definitely some growth."