Hawks make history, but late flurry by Blue Jackets seals 6-5 loss

There may come a day that the Blackhawks look back upon Thursday's 6-5 loss to Columbus at the United Center and realize how much they grew from the heart-wrenching setback.

It was awfully difficult for Patrick Kane to think that way in the immediate aftermath of the meltdown, however.

"It's not really the players' job to think about moral victories," Kane said.

Especially after Ian Mitchell and Nicolas Beaudin became the first Hawks defensemen to score their first NHL goals in the same game.

And especially after the Hawks took a 4-2 lead early in the third period on Kane's power-play goal.

And especially after the Hawks went up 5-4 on Alex DeBrincat's tally with 6:55 remaining.

Despite all of that, the Hawks couldn't pull out the win. Michael Del Zotto scored with 2:41 remaining to make it 5-5, and Kevin Stenlund pounded home the game winner with 1:19 left.

The shellshocked Hawks (6-5-4) must now find a way to quickly turn the page so they don't let this loss demoralize them heading into a rematch with Columbus on Saturday.

"This is a situation where maybe we had to learn this lesson," said coach Jeremy Colliton. "We've had a pretty good run of results. ...

"In most respects it's because we have managed the game really well. Even when we haven't been at our best, we've stayed alive by not beating ourselves and then we come through in big moments."

Thursday was the polar opposite. Poor puck management and a few tough bounces proved too much to overcome.

"We didn't manage the game and came out on the wrong end of it," Colliton said. "We can learn from it. I'd rather learn when we win. But we're gonna learn just the same."

Mitchell and Beaudin should have been the story of the night as their history-making goals came just 56 seconds apart early in the second period.

Mitchell tapped in the equivalent of a 2-foot putt after taking a pass from David Kampf. Less than a minute later, Nikita Zadorov sent a blast off the end boards that bounced right to Beaudin. The 21-year-old pounded the puck home to give the Hawks a 2-1 lead at 1:17.

"Getting that first one is special," Mitchell said. "Wish we could've pulled out the game, but just joy and relief. I wanted the puck from Kampy pretty bad, so he did a good job getting it to me."

In addition to scoring his seventh goal, Kane also displayed his wizardry with the puck all night. He set up Pius Suter for a second-period goal and also assisted on DeBrincat's.

Kevin Lankinen (37 saves) was under fire most of the night.

The tying goal came after Cam Atkinson's blast from just inside the blue line hit the cross bar and bounced right to Del Zotto. The Jackets' D-man never hesitated and shot the puck past a sliding, crouched-down Lankinen.

Oliver Bjorkstrand set up the game-winner with a pass to Stenlund that split the defense of DeBrincat and Duncan Keith. Stenlund then fended off Nikita Zadorov and beat Lankinen with a shot through the five-hole.

"It would have been nice to keep that train rolling," Kane said. "A little disappointment right now.

"I guess we'll regroup and go over it tomorrow; hopefully have a better game on Saturday. A better result."